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. It will be in bold if it's English.

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:

"—Wow~! Ayako hit the bull's-eye!" Inuchiyo said as he leaned over and looked at the target. Kuranosuke twitched.

"What!" Kuranosuke said in disbelief as he ran over to check the target. It had taken him a whole week to be able to hit the bull's-eye from that distance. "I thought you said you never shot a gun before!"

"I said I've never shot a real gun. I play the shooting game with fake guns that shoot corks at the target at every fair or festival I go to. I had to stop one time when I made the person running the booth cry because I kept winning too much." Ayako said, sweat dropping.

"... Just for the record, is there anything you can't do?" Kuranosuke asked, chagrined.

"Hmm... well, I can't walk and chew gum at the same time." Ayako said, smiling.

You know, I can't tell whether that girl is an idiot or a genius..." Kuranosuke said sweat dropping. Ayako had fallen asleep in the shade, on the porch, while they were sparring, since she was still feeling lethargic from being poisoned yesterday. "Who just falls asleep out in the open like that?"

"I agree that Ayako doesn't seem to have a very good sense of danger, since she thinks it's safe just because we're in the lord's castle, but other than that, she seems like a dependable ally." Gorouza said, smiling.

"Hey, Gorouza, didn't Ayako say earlier that you and her were supposed to make lunch?" Inuchiyo said. He was starting to get hungry.

"Ah, yes. I suppose we should get started since it's getting close to lunch time." Gorouza said.

"Yaay~! It's lunchtime, Ayako~! Time to wake up!" Inuchiyo said excitedly as he poked Ayako in the side to wake her up.

"Gyaaah!?" Ayako cried in surprise as she shot a few inches off the ground, and started rolling on the ground in a fit of laughter. "—Don't—haha—Do that—haha—!" Ayako managed to say in between laughs. The boys stared, not sure how to react.

"Gorouza! I think I broke her!" Inuchiyo cried, clearly distressed at the thought. Gorouza sweat dropped and smiled wryly. He wasn't sure what to make of her strange behavior either.

"I hope her weirdness isn't contagious." Kuranosuke muttered. Ayako gasped and took a deep breath, finally managing to calm down.

"No, I'm alright, Inuchiyo. I'm just extremely ticklish there." Ayako said, smiling wryly and sweat dropping.

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

"Ayako, since you're still recovering, how about I prepare the main dish, and you can make the rice balls to go with it." Gorouza suggested as they started preparing supper in the kitchen.

"Sounds good to me. Rice balls are my specialty." Ayako said, smiling.

"Humph, that's what people who can't cook say." Kuranosuke said, smirking at her.

"They're just easier for me to make since they were the fish Japanese dish I learned to make, okay! I don't have to make you any if you're going to be like that, you know." Ayako retorted.

"Hey, hey! Ayako! Can you make me lots of rice balls?" Inuchiyo asked hopefully with big puppy dog eyes.

"Umm... Is that okay, Gorouza?" Ayako asked, trying not to give in to Inuchiyo's puppy-like cuteness.

"You can make him one extra one, but our lord wants everyone to ration the food since there isn't a lot of rice to go around right now, because a lot of crops have been failing." Gorouza said.

"Is there a famine going on right now?" Ayako asked, alarmed.

"No, it's not quite that bad yet, but our lord doesn't want to be wasteful, just in case." Gorouza explained, smiling.

"Oh, that's good. I'm glad to hear he's planning ahead." Ayako said, relived.

"Of course he is!" Kuranosuke said, vein mark throbbing on his forehead. "He's the ruler of Owari, why wouldn't he think ahead?"

"Yep, our lord is amazing!" Inuchiyo said, smiling.

"You guys really like the lord, don't you?" Ayako said, smiling.

"Yeah!" Inuchiyo said happily.

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

"Pardon the intrusion." Gorouza said, smiling as he opened the door, and they entered into the room where Nobunaga was waiting for them to eat. Nobunaga looked up from the reports he was reading when Ayako placed his tray of food in front of him.

"Hmph. Took you long enough." He said, smirking.

"You're welcome." Ayako deadpanned as she sat down with her own food.

"It's because this one fell a sleep and we had to wake her up." Kuranosuke said, jabbing his thumb in Ayako's direction.

"Let's see you stay awake when you have jet lag and are recovering from poison." Ayako muttered.

"Hmph, you seemed energetic enough earlier." Kuranosuke retorted.

"That wasn't something I could really control..." Ayako said, sweat dropping.

"Control what?" Nobunaga asked. It sounded like something interesting had happened.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing!" Ayako said a little too quickly, making Nobunaga even more curious. Ayako had a feeling that he'd probably turn her into his squeak toy, like her friends back home, if he knew.

"Just this." Kuranosuke deadpanned as he poked Ayako in the side without warning.

"!?" Ayako yelped as she suddenly shot a foot away from Kuranosuke, rolling on the floor laughing. Nobunaga stared at her. He'd never seen such an extreme reaction before.

"Hmph!" Nobunaga said, clearly amused. That sobered Ayako up. She slowly turned to look at Nobunaga, who was smirking like a kid who'd found a new toy... this did not bode well for her future.

"... You're never going to let me live this down, are you?" Ayako asked, sweat dropping. Nobunaga just smirked at her. Ayako sighed as she hung her head in defeat. 'I knew it...!' she thought as a comical trail of tears flowed down her cheeks. Gorouza sweat dropped, feeling a little sorry for Ayako. Nobunaga really seemed to enjoy teasing her.

"... Ayako..." Inuchiyo said suddenly, sounding extremely grave. They all turned to look at him. He was holding a half-eaten rice ball.

'That's strange... Inuchiyo usually inhales his food instead of pacing himself...' Gorouza thought.

"Um, is something wrong, Inuchiyo?" Ayako asked, a little unnerved by how serious the normally carefree boy was being. Inuchiyo clasped her hands in his.

"This is delicious!" Inuchiyo said, smiling with the intensity of a thousand white-hot suns. His happiness was blinding.

"Oh, um... thanks?" Ayako said, smiling wryly. She'd never gotten a reaction like that before. The other three men stared at their rice balls, and decided to skip ahead and see what Inuchiyo was talking about. If Inuchiyo had actually stopped to savor the flavor... it must be amazing...

"!?" They all said when they tasted the rice balls. They were amazing.

"What did you put in these? They're abnormally excellent." Nobunaga said, perfectly serious. Ayako sweat dropped.

'That would've been a really nice compliment if it wasn't for that one unneeded word he stuck in there... does he have something against giving people an honest compliment?' Ayako wondered. "I don't get what you mean. I just used the normal ingredients for plain rice balls." Ayako said frankly.

"It's true, I didn't see her add anything extra..." Gorouza said, mystified. He was a good cook, since it was his hobby, but this taste was on a completely different level.

"You should make these every day!" Inuchiyo said as he eyed Kuranosuke's rice ball, drooling. "That was the best rice ball I've ever tasted!"

"Haha, thanks Inuchiyo." Ayako said, smiling, rubbing the back of her neck and blushing. She was starting to feel a little shy after being praised so much.

"I was ready to laugh at you when you failed, too. I thought you said your mother couldn't cook." Kuranosuke said. A vein mark throbbed on her head.

"You're really rude, you know. Luckily, I didn't inherit my mother's talent for turning anything edible into charcoal. My grandfather, her father, taught me how to cook, and then my uncle taught me how to make Japanese food once I came here." Ayako said.

"From now on, you're my official rice ball maker." Nobunaga said as he continued to eat the gourmet rice ball. Ayako sweat dropped and smiled wryly. Was that even a real position?

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

{Later that evening}

"Why are you taking another bath when you just had one this morning?" Kuranosuke asked Ayako as they all walked to the bathhouse together.

"Because, I rolled all over the ground when you poked me, remember?" Ayako said, chagrined. The rest of the day had been pretty uneventful, and now they were all ready to enjoy a relaxing warm bath... except for Ayako. She had been stubbornly sticking to the little private area that Nobunaga had set up for her and bathing in just the cold water that was used to clean yourself before entering the springs, instead of enjoying the hot spring with the others. Ayako had found out that morning that the people in the castle used the bathhouse whenever they had time, since the servants worked in shifts most of the time. She was relived to find out that they all wore towels to cover up the important parts once they were ready to go into the spring, so she just had to be careful to keep looking up when she walked through the washing area. That way, she wouldn't need any eye bleach later on.

"You should probably soak in the hot spring this time, Ayako. It'll help you heal faster." Gorouza said, smiling.

"It's more fun when everyone's together, too~!" Inuchiyo said.

"You can't avoid it forever." Nobunaga added bluntly. Ayako sighed.

"I guess you're right... and the towel is kind of big on me, so it covers more..." Ayako said, finally giving in. If it would help her get better faster, she could suck it up and handle the embarrassment for one bath.