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.

Nouhime blinked as she slowly opened her eyes once she had regained consciousness. She vaguely registered that although it sounded as though it was raining harder... she wasn't wet.

"—Ah! You're awake, Lady Nouhime!?" Kasane asked, relieved, as she leaned over Nouhime to get a better look. "Look, Ayako! She's awake!"

"Welcome back to the world of the living." Ayako said, smiling wryly as she held the back of her hand against Nouhime's forehead to check her temperature. They had dried Nouhime off as best as they could, and they had removed the damp outer layers of her outfit, so that Nouhime was just in her drier, short under kimono now. Ayako didn't want Nouhime to get a cold on top of whatever she had now.

"..." Nouhime said as she stared up at the two girls. She could tell that she was tucked into a nice and warm futon, but it wasn't the room she usually stayed in when she was at Nobunaga's Nagoya Castle. "Where am I...?" Nouhime asked.

"Phew! Whoa you really gave us a surprise there! I'm so glad you're okay! I was wondering what we'd do if you didn't wake up!" Kasane said as she started to ramble now that she had finally relaxed after feeling so relieved to see that Nouhime was okay. Ayako couldn't really blame Kasane, though. They were both feeling worn out after that scare. She was relieved to find that Nouhime didn't seem to have a fever.

"Breathe, Kasane." Ayako said, sweat dropping. "Don't worry, Nouhime, you're safe. We're in Nagoya Castle."

"Onihime... and you're the girl from earlier..." Nouhime said, glancing between the two girls as she started feeling less fuzzy than when she first woke up.

"Yes! I'm Kusanagi Kasane! Kasane said, smiling. "After you fell, and Ayako caught you, everyone managed to carry you to the castle."

'No, that was mostly you...' Ayako thought, sweat dropping, as she stared at Kasane. Kasane had immediately thrown Nouhime onto her own back, and, in a herculean show of strength, she carried Nouhime all the way back to the castle by herself. Ayako had wanted to help, but when she broke Nouhime's fall, Ayako fell funny, and sprained her ankle, so she couldn't put too much weight on it without making the injury worse. Ayako couldn't even ride Eishi on the way back without getting help to mount and dismount the horse.

"Since we couldn't get you to your room, we put you in here for now. It's the room Kasane and I are using." Ayako said as Kasane soaked a clean cloth in the bucket of warm water they had gotten for Nouhime, and wrung it out so that it wouldn't drip all over the place when they finished wiping the sweat from Nouhime's face and neck for her. Ayako had already warned Kasane that Nouhime shouldn't move too much, for now at least.

"So, you said this is... Nagoya?" Nouhime asked. It hadn't quite registered the first time Ayako told her.

"Yes! The lord's castle." Kasane said, smiling. She handed the cloth to Ayako.

"Hmm... This water's starting to get cold... I'll go get heat it up again." Ayako said, picking up the wooden bucket and turning to leave. Ayako opened the door and paused when she heard Nouhime speak.

"I see... sorry, I must've been heavy, thanks..." Nouhime said as she tried to sit up.

"Ah! Please lie down!" Kasane said urgently when she realized what Nouhime was doing. "Uh..!" Nouhime gasped in pain when her heart throbbed painfully in her chest.

"!" Ayako said as she immediately dropped the bucket on the porch and knelt beside Nouhime, supporting her, so that she wouldn't strain herself. "Please don't push yourself. Any unnecessary strain will only worsen your condition!" Ayako said sternly, entering full on 'Dr. Onihime' mode.

"But..." Nouhime said.

"No 'buts'!" Ayako countered.

"Um... I-I'll go get the lord! Ah! Or maybe I should call another doctor first..." Ayako said, flustered. Unlike Ayako, Kasane's knowledge of first aid was limited to minor wounds and wounds that were typically seen in a dojo that only used wooden swords.

"I already called for a doctor, so you're fine on both counts." Nobunaga said from behind them. Kasane jumped slightly, but Ayako managed to suppress the reflex, since she was worried she might hurt Nouhime if she flinched while holding her.

"Huh?" Kasane said as she and Ayako glanced behind them to see that Nobunaga was actually talking to them through the closed sliding door... which Ayako thought was kind of strange since she didn't remember closing them again.

"My Lord?" Ayako called out to him.

"I'm coming in." Nobunaga said declared as the doors flew open with a clatter.

"Huh!? Just like that!?" Kasane yelled in surprise as Nobunaga stalked into the room. Nobunaga stared silently at the scene before him. All of the women looked worn out for one reason or another. Ayako was holding Nouhime—knowing Nouhime, Ayako was trying to keep her from hurting herself out of stubbornness. That spilled bucket of water just out side the room must have been dropped when one of the girls rushed to Nouhime's side. Nobunaga noticed that Ayako's boots were off, and one of her ankles was bandaged. Nobunaga narrowed his eyes slightly, but then he turned his attention to Nouhime.

"Have you been well, Nouhime?" Nobunaga asked, wanting to hear about Nouhime's condition from the woman herself. Nouhime shrugged out of Ayako's grip to kneel before Nobunaga, and Ayako let her, knowing that fight Nouhime on this would probably hurt her more than just letting her kneel would.

"See for yourself, Kazusanosuke." Nouhime said, trying to keep her breathing even as she panted a little from the effort. "...Uh!" Nouhime grunted in pain as her heart throbbed painfully again. Nouhime started to fall over, but Ayako braced her, and supported her again with Kasane's help.

"This is why I told you not to force yourself." Ayako whispered to Nouhime, scolding her.

"I'm sorry to be in this state..." Nouhime told Nobunaga, chagrined at her own weakness. She was grateful that Ayako had been discrete in scolding her. If Nobunaga knew she was disobeying a doctor's direct orders, she'd never hear the end of it.

"It's fine." Nobunaga said bluntly as he sat down, and Ayako and Kasane helped Nouhime back into the futon. Kasane pulled the blanket over her legs, and Ayako draped here haori over Nouhime's shoulders to keep her from getting a chill in her sleeveless kimono. Nobunaga's brow furrowed slightly in irritation when Ayako took off his haori after he had specifically told her not to, but decided to let it go, for the moment. "Gorouza gave me the details. You helped Katsusaburou out." Nobunaga said, addressing Nouhime.

"Yeah, right, look at me. It burns my ears to be thanked for this. I was saved myself right after that by Onihime." Nouhime said, embarrassed that she was being thanked for helping another after she ended up being so weak. Nobunaga glanced briefly at Ayako, who was busy checking Nouhime's pulse.

"How are you doing?" Nobunaga asked Nouhime. The extra concerned look on Ayako's face told him that she didn't like what she had found.

"The same as always. I should be up and about in two or three days... You called me at just the right time... Are things really that bad?" Nouhime asked.

"Tomorrow Nobuyuki and the rest will be gathering. We need to share intelligence and coordinate our forces." Nobunaga told her.

"... I understand. Let me know if there's anything I can do." Nouhime said.

"Even though I have ordered for a doctor to come, you should obey whatever Onihime tells you in regards to your health. She's actually more useful than the 'professionals' half the time. So you can trust her advice. That said..." Nobunaga turned from Nouhime to Ayako. "What did you do to yourself this time?" Nobunaga demanded, furrowing his brow slightly as he looked at her bandaged ankle. Ayako sweat dropped. It was just a sprained ankle.

"You say that like I do it on purpose... I just sprained my ankle when I tried to catch Nouhime, that's all. As long as I keep my weight off of it, it should be better in a day or so, since I'm a fast healer." Ayako told him as she brushed some of her curly blond hair behind her ear. Nobunaga narrowed his eyes, and she could tell that something had pissed him off by the menacing aura that was now radiating off of him. Ayako froze, caught off guard by the sudden show of hostility. She realized that the other two women were also staring at her.

"W-What...?" Ayako asked nervously.

"Ayako...! You're bleeding!?" Kasane shouted, shocked when she saw the cut on the side of Ayako's face that had been hidden by her hair until now.

"... Really?" Ayako asked as she held a hand up to her face and felt the cut. It was actually pretty small, and when Ayako looked at her fingers after touching it, she could see that the blood had already started to clot, and form a scale, judging by its thickness. So, Ayako knew that she had gotten the cut recently, but it hadn't just happened at that moment, and it didn't even hurt... It itched a little, but that was it. "Oh! This is the side of my face that hit the ground when I lost my balance and fell when I caught Nouhime... I must've scratched it on a twig or something. It's no big deal." Ayako said calmly. She was used to getting little cuts and bruises from all of the misadventures she had with her dad as a child... like when he taught her how to ride her bike, and let go of her before he explained how the breaks worked... she ended up slamming into the neighbor's fence, and fell into their rose bush. Ayako was really glad that her mother had insisted on making her wear a helmet, elbow pads and kneepads.

"But it's your face! What if it leaves a scar!?" Kasane said, worried.

"I'm sorry, this happened because I—" Nouhime began to apologize, but Ayako held her hand up, stopping her.

"Don't apologize. I was the one who made the decision to catch you. Besides, I've had worse, and I'm a fast healer. Despite my many mishaps over the years, I only have one scar, see." Ayako said as she pulled up her sleeve and showed them all the dark, but thin scar that was on her the underside of her right forearm.

"!" Kasane said, surprised. She hadn't known Ayako had that scar since she always wore long sleeves. Nobunaga narrowed his eyes and frowned slightly. He hadn't known about it either.

"Compared to this beauty, a little knick on the face is no big deal!" Ayako said, grinning.

"What happened!?" Kasane asked, concerned, as she grabbed Ayako's arm. Ayako flinched in surprise when she was suddenly grabbed like that.

"Oh, well I told you how my parents died, right?" Ayako asked Kasane. She couldn't remember if she had mentioned it to Kasane or not, but she knew that she had definitely told Nobunaga already. Nobunaga frowned. He could see where this was going.

"Yeah, you said they died in a car crash, right?" Kasane said, nodding. Nouhime was curious about what this 'car' was, but didn't want to interrupt the flow of the story.

"Right... well, I was actually I the car with my parents when it happened..." Ayako said, smiling sadly. "I was in the backseat, so I wasn't in the half of the car that got crushed by the big tanker truck. This scar is nothing, considering what could've happened..." She could've died, like her parents. Nobunaga had gotten the impression that the world was much safer and more peaceful in the future... At least, that was how it sounded in the stories Ayako had told him before, but these 'trucks' sounded rather dangerous.

"A—Ayako!!" Kasane cried as she suddenly pulled Ayako into a bone-crushing hug. A comical waterfall of tears was streaming down her face. "I-I'm sorry!"

"Ah, no... It's okay, Kasane. It happened a long time ago." Ayako said, as she awkwardly patted Kasane on the back in an attempt to calm her down. It was hard to move when she was being squeezed like that. "Help me!" She mouthed at Nobunaga, who just turned his head away from her, ignoring her plea for help. Nobunaga decided to consider that her punishment for not telling him such an important detail about herself. A vein mark throbbed on Ayako's forehead when she saw how Nobunaga had so haughtily ignored her.

"Anyway, don't cry, okay? If my parents knew we were crying over their deaths like this, they'd beat the stuffing out of us." Ayako said, smiling fondly at the memory of her parents. Kasane laughed wryly as she dried her eyes.

"Haha... there goes your weird sense of humor again..." Kasane said, smiling, glad to see that her friend was okay. Ayako was really strong. Ayako blinked.

"I was being serious." Ayako said frankly. "That's what they told me when my grandfather—on my mother's side—died. I couldn't stop crying because I missed him so much, so they reassured me that he was in a better place, but I still cried. They told me that if I ever cried like that when they died, instead of remembering all the good times we had together, and living my life to the fullest, then they come back from the grave and 'kick the crap out of me.' Of course, they had meant when they were much older, but you get the idea." Kasane gaped at Ayako, shocked.

'Is that really something you should say to a grieving child...!?' Kasane thought, going blue with shock. She had always thought Ayako was a little weird, but considering her parents... Ayako it was amazing that she had turned out so normal.

"... Your parents sound like interesting people." Nouhime said, not sure whether she wanted to laugh or pity her. Ayako's parents sounded pretty similar to her own father.

"Yeah!" Ayako said, beaming proudly. "They were—!?" Ayako was cut off when Nobunaga grabbed her face with one hand, and began scrubbing the cut with the other. Nobunaga had grabbed the clean cloth that they had wet to use for Nouhime earlier, since it was clean and still damp. Ayako winced as Nobunaga scrubbed the wound. The man had no mercy. Nobunaga made sure to scrub extra hard so that he could be sure that all the dirt had been removed from the cut.

"If you don't start taking better care of yourself— I'm going to kick the crap out of you." Nobunaga said sternly, frowning as he continued to clean her cut.

"But it's just a little—" Ayako's protest died in her throat when Nobunaga gave her a fierce glare, warning her that he wasn't in the mood for her stubbornness.

'How scary...' Kasane thought, sweat dropping.

"..." Nouhime said as she watched Nobunaga and Ayako. She hadn't missed how he kept looking at her earlier. Once Nobunaga felt that he had cleaned Ayako's cut thoroughly enough, he stood up and turned to leave the room.

"Don't forget to bandage that cut! If I see you walking around without one, I'll scrub that cut again until your face comes off." Nobunaga threatened Ayako. Ayako sweat dropped. Wasn't that a little extreme? "And don't leave the room without wearing that haori. I'll have one of Nouhime's brought to her from her room."

'If you're going that far, why not just have Nouhime moved to her own room...?' Ayako wondered. As awkward as it was to be in the same room as both the guy she loved and his wife at the same time, the thought being alone with Nouhime actually made her feel even more nervous. Kasane couldn't be there all the time...

"Feel free to use that as you'd like during your stay." Nobunaga told Nouhime, referring to Kasane. "Rest for today. If anything happens, send her or Onihime with a message, but only if Onihime is wearing that haori." Nobunaga said as he stalked out of the room. Ayako sweat dropped. What was it with him and wanting her to wear that haori?

"Okay." Nouhime said.

'Now that I think about it... Nouhime's outfit is much skimpier than mine, but he didn't give her any grief over it...' Ayako thought, frowning slightly.

"Hm...? I kinda feel like he just casually treated me like property..." Kasane said, thinking out loud, as she furrowed her brow slightly.

"Yeah... I guess you hadn't noticed, but he tends to do that, Kasane..." Ayako said, sweat dropping. "At least he didn't nearly scrub your face off."

"Sorry, it looks like I'll be relying on you." Nouhime said to them, smiling wryly. These two girls were so interesting.

Author's note:

I realized that I didn't make a pic of Ayako when she had short hair and was still cross-dressing, so I decided to make a little fashion timeline that included an image of that, her new outfit, and Ayako wearing Nobunaga's haori over the outfit. The link for it is on my profile. ^_^