Hello wonderful readers! How is everyone? ^.^ In this chapter, our cute Mafuyu visits her old hometown. But what awaits her there...?

EDIT: 'Kenkawa' changed to 'Kangawa'. A big thanks to Murayama-Tsuru for informing me that 'Kenkawa' is actually read as 'Kangawa'! ^.^

If there is anything else, please let me know through a review. Thank you!

Chapter 10: Home Bitter Home

Clop clop clop…the chestnut mare walked through the stone arch, entering the main courtyard of the town of Higashi. The rider took a deep breath, her eyes sparkling as they feasted on the familiar sights before her.

Dear mother, Mafuyu thought, smiling, you're daughter has received a few days off from Palace Lessons due to the birthday of a high court official. Aren't you happy? You're daughter has come to see you now! Ah, I wonder how you will react to this pleasant surprise!

Lady Kurosaki – the actual Lady Kurosaki, Mafuyu's mother – was a woman who had secured a seat in the court of the Palace of Higashi and married a noble. She was talented and beautiful…and very, very scary. Her daughter was the girl who had been knighted at the tender age of fifteen – the first female and one of the youngest to have reached knighthood. As if that wasn't enough for the noblewoman to handle, her daughter had been caught taking part in nearly starting a war between Higashi and their neighbouring city Nishi, and thus was stripped of her position. Lady Kurosaki had been very disappointed.

'Mafuyu Kurosaki,' her mother's powdered face twitched as she looked down at her daughter, both of them standing in the Palace square. 'You dare to come back? Am I to assume you failed again?!'

'No, no dear Mother!' Mafuyu shook her head. 'I have merely come back for a few days!'

Her mother's eyes softened. 'Oh, that's fine news. Have you made any friends?'

Mafuyu nodded, an image of Hayasaka popping in her head. 'Oh, yes! I already have an amazing friend. My friend is a very kind and honest person who cares about me and enjoys embroidery!' It was true – Hayasaka had helped her complete her handkerchief in return for her helping him try and find Lady Bunny-man. He was surprisingly good at it and the mistress was very pleased at the work, thinking it was Mafuyu's. Ah, but her description made Hayasaka…sound like a girl, didn't it?

'Such wonderful news!' her mother smiled. 'I knew you could do it, Mafuyu. When you were a delinquent, all the ladies ran away from you, you know? Always surrounded by smelly squires who weren't even courting you…how disgusting. Anyway, don't just stand here. You might as well go around the town and do something ladylike. I have business to attend to.'

'Yes, Mother, goodbye!' Mafuyu curtsied and walked away as gracefully as she could. And so Mafuyu Kurosaki went to sightsee, completely unaware of the pair of eyes watching her with menace.

'So she's back?' he muttered, an evil smile creeping onto his face.

'Yes, I swear I saw her!' the squire nodded. 'But…she kinda looks…sorta cute now, you know?'

'Wasn't she arrested for murder or something?' another asked.

'Didn't she escape from prison? Faked her death or something, right?'

'No, I thought that she was a vigilante now. Turned to the good side or something after a traumatic experience?'

'You idiots!' he roared. 'Where did you get such absurd stories from? She's an amateur. She got caught by Higashi's General, that stupid woman. But she must have heard the news. Her subordinates probably went crawling to her, so now we have her within our grasp,' he chuckled and his squires looked at him in awe. 'Yes…Dame Mafuyu Kurosaki, you will fall!'

As soon as her mother was out of sight, Mafuyu sighed. 'That went well,' she muttered, walking out of the Palace gates. 'It's not my fault ladies ran away from me. I mean, girls are so delicate!' she smiled. 'They are so sweet smelling and wonderful, like angels! Ah, how I wish I could meet a beautiful girl, or become friends with one! How should I start the conversation?' Mafuyu stopped walking, pondering. 'Excuse me, miss, but you're ravishing beauty caught my eye. May I entertain you to a drink?' Then she slapped herself. What am I, a knight courting a lady?! Her neck prickled, as if someone was watching her. Mafuyu's head suddenly snapped to the left.

Nothing.

It's good to see no unruly behaviour, Mafuyu thought. The towns of Nishi and Higashi were close neighbours, and in the past delinquents from these towns used to bother each other so much that soon, their squabbles escalated into a full out war. The authorities did what they could, but in the end, Higashi's informal army won, under the leadership of Dame Kurosaki. Since then, rules like 'no mugging' and such were enforced. Sure, they had been enforced by delinquents, but they were good rules.

'I said unhand me, you vagabond!'

Mafuyu ducked, looking around the corner. The lady squealed, trying to pull away from a dirty squire's grasp. Half a dozen other boys laughed, pointing at her. A mugging? And those squire uniforms….they were from the Nishi Palace! What were Nishi squires doing committing crimes in Higashi walls?!

The girl cried, her pretty face in agony. 'Somebody, please, help me!'

Mafuyu didn't even need to think. She started to rush to the girl's aid, but tripped on her skirts. Wait, Mafuyu, what are you doing?! she berated herself. What if your mother sees you? And you can't fight in these frills anyway…

A squire who was laughing at the girl turned around, suspicious. 'Is someone there? Hey guys, I thought I heard a noise.'

The boy who held the girl jerked his head. 'Go check it out then. We don't want to get caught.'

The squire shrugged, walking out of view…and he didn't come back.

Whack!

Silence.

'Hey, what's going on there?' Another one walked out. He didn't come back.

The rest were getting nervous now. 'Whoever it is, come out!' the leader said hesitantly. A figure appeared before him, wearing their uniform…and the person was…

'A girl? Wearing a squire's tunic?' before the boy could laugh, Mafuyu's knuckles were breaking his nose. In seconds, it was over, the ground littered in unconscious Nishi boys.

'I didn't know I would have to cross-dress again so soon. I hate cross-dressing. And cross-dressers. They're such weird people…' Mafuyu turned to the girl to bow, but stepped back when she realised the girl was glaring at her.

'Hate cross-dressers, do you?' she fumed. 'Well, how about this?!' she started removing her corset.

'Uh, my lady, please, what are you doing?!' Mafuyu blushed running up to her and holding her hands to stop her. The girl glared some more.

'Let me go, Dame Mafuyu Kurosaki!' she yelled. She reached towards her head… and ripped her hair off.

'Aaaahhhh!' Mafuyu squealed, falling back to see…a soft featured boy wearing a corset. 'Ah…ah aha ha….you…you are…'

'We have you surrounded, Dame Kurosaki,' he sniggered. Mafuyu looked around her. It was true; half a dozen more Nishi squires had appeared around her. 'Good night!' the cross-dresser smirked, and before she could react, a boy behind her lifted the hilt of his sword and brought it down on her head.

'Oohhh…my head,' Mafuyu blinked. 'Where am I?' she mumbled. Her hands and legs had been tied by ropes, the rough material grazing her skin. No, my beautiful skin! she moaned.

'Nishi,' a boy with a mop of light brown hair came into her view. He was short and he looked weak, but she knew him. 'Do you remember me, Dame?'

'Of course,' Mafuyu chuckled. 'Nishi High's youngest knight, Barracuda, right?'

He scowled. 'It's Sakurada! Sir Asahi Sakurada! How does that even resemble Barracuda?!'

'You're as useful as a barracuda. I can eat you for breakfast any day. You're that crazy guy who came to challenge me to a duel one day, but left your makeup on since you were cross-dressing shortly before, right?' she smiled. 'What an idiot.'

'You're the idiot,' he spat. 'You're so easily attracted by women. It's true, I am more beautiful than you, even as a girl. But here you are, Dame, cross-dressing before me as well! And you don't even have a wig; what a failure.' He tossed something at her face. 'Take it, you idiot. Ha ha! But it's not like you can wear it with your hands tied!'

'Don't call me Dame,' she frowned, staring at the boy's wig that had been thrown at her. 'I lost that title. What do you want from me, Barra…uh, Sakurada?'

Sakurada leaned in closer to her, so close she could smell the lavender scent he had sprayed on himself. 'Nishi and Higashi are going to fight again, and we have kept you hostage, since you were their previous leader. So just sit tight and enjoy the show, loser. I have a battle to win.' Chortling, he stepped out of the stone room she was in, his subordinates that were waiting outside locking the door behind him.

'Damn him,' she sighed, closing her eyes. A hostage? Does that mean I am disadvantaging my army? No, at least those two are there. I can leave it to them…

Clatter.

'Who's there?' Mafuyu roared, looking behind her. Two boys looked back at her, one with black hair and the other with brown. Her mouth dropped. She knew these boys. And the fact that they were here was very bad.

'D…Dame…' the black haired boy licked his lips. 'How's it going? You look great in those clothes…'

In Higashi, there resided three of the strongest juvenile knights the province had ever seen. The third strongest, aged sixteen, was Sir Yuuto Maizono, a fearsome man who loved pain. Number two was seventeen year old Sir Kouhei Kangawa, a merciless knight rumoured to have once bathed in the blood of his victims. And the most terrifying of them all was fifteen year old Dame Mafuyu Kurosaki; it was said that if you so much as made eye contact with her, you had to run away as far as possible and pray for your life.

So then why were these fearsome people meeting each other again – in a very long time – in the prison of one of the weakest knights in the country?

The answer was simple. They were all idiots.

'Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you, we missed you so much!' Kangawa grinned. 'You cut your hair? It looks absolutely wonderful!'

'Dame, what are you doing here?' Maizono enquired.

'That's my line!' Mafuyu fumed. 'How did my two best knights get captured?'

'Oh, they said there was a sale on armour,' Kangawa laughed.

'This is no laughing matter, stupid!'

'They hit me, and I like pain,' Maizono fluttered his eyelids.

'How the hell are you one of Higashi's strongest?!' Mafuyu groaned. 'First things first, we need to get free. If only I hadn't been knocked out, I could have tightened my muscles when they bound me, creating more space and then slipping out of my bonds.' Takaomi also told me that in some situations, people were known to have dislocated their wrist joints, but there was no way I am attempting that! 'How about you guys, you did that too right? Those are delinquency basics.'

'We…didn't know we could do something like that,' Maizono stated.

'You worthless pigs! You dare to call yourselves knights? If I had a blade I would slay you where you sto-ooh,' Mafuyu cleared her throat. This was bad. She was starting to talk like a ruffian again, spending time around these men. She couldn't lose the ladylike behaviour she had worked so hard to achieve! 'Anyway, then we need to beat someone up who has a knife and free ourselves.' She walked to the door and rammed her shoulder into it to create a disturbance. Seconds later, it flung open and a Nishi squire appeared. Before he could complain, Mafuyu head-butted him in the face, knocking him out. She searched his pockets and found a knife, then cut herself free.

Kangawa looked at her in awe as she cut him loose. 'Wow, Dame, you are my hero!'

'Leave me tied,' Maizono pleaded. 'I love the sting of these tight ropes.'

'I'll stab you, Sir, if you don't obey me,' Mafuyu grumbled, freeing him. 'Now let's get out of this damned dungeon.' She picked up the wig by her feet. It was black horsehair. Not exactly Natsuo but at least if someone were to see me, my identity would be hidden, she thought, securing the accessory in place. Her two subordinates stared at her.

'I didn't know you had that hobby, Dame,' Maizono said bluntly.

'Look, it's just so that nobody recognises me,' Mafuyu explained.

'Wow,' Kangawa's cheeks bore a slight blush. 'You look really great as a boy; as expected of the Dame.'

'Stop thinking such strange things!' Mafuyu shouted, smacking him on the head. She hid a smile. It felt nice, acting stupid with these boys. It brought back such great memories. Back to business, Mafuyu. Let's get out of here.

'We need a plan,' Mafuyu whispered, gazing around the corner at the pair of squires loitering around in light armour. 'Barracuda's got us well guarded.' She squinted. Both were carrying swords. Not good. 'Sirs, I have a plan, although I don't really know if it's good enough. Someone needs to be the distraction and lure them away, while–'

'Oh, me, me!' Maizono pleaded. Before waiting for a reply, he charged out and started waving his hands around. 'Hey, squires! Over here, over here!' His eyes widened when the boys looked over. One of them unsheathed his blade, his expression surprised. 'Uh…Dame? Dame Mafuyu? The…they've got…swords… Swords hurt, Dame. They hurt a lot.'

'Sir Maizono, that idiot, always missing the details. How's he going to get out of this one alive?' Kangawa grimaced.

Mafuyu rubbed her face. Oh dear Lord. We are in a pickle…

Yes, dear Mafuyu. You are indeed in a pickle.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you for spending your precious time to read my work. Please, if you have the time, review so I can improve. Next chapter will be up soon...hopefully... .