A/N: I enjoyed writing this chapter, as I did with the other ones, but you know. The drama starts! Or rather, it continues to.

Again, I hope I'm not writing anyone out of character- I'm trying to delve deeper into these characters and expanding their characteristics beyond what everyone define them as. We usually see Masamune as cocky, cool, and, well, in the third game, hot-tempered and prideful. But what about his home life? Is he childish? Is he playful? Or is he cool like any other time? Kojuurou is the same. Asides from loyalty, he has patience, wisdom, and that sorta motherly figure considering the fact he's the one to train, babysit, and take care of lil' Bontenmaru.

Err- so I guess what I'm trying to say is, this is my depiction of Sengoku Basara characters and I hope it's realistic (as it can be).

Without further ado, I wanna thank you for your patience in waiting for this chapter and begin!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sengoku Basara or the cover for my story in any way.

It was the brink of winter as the cool wind became biting and the moist ground froze over: a tell-tale sign that the season was changing. Although the air was cold enough to see a person's breath, it was not yet enough to bring what could have been Aiko's first snowfall at Oshuu.

It had only been six months since she first arrived here, but sometimes she felt as if she'd stayed here for years. Aiko went about at a regular routine; she woke up to good mornings and went to sleep with good nights. It took her only a few weeks until she found out that her name came from one of the kindly nurses, who had fretted over her gratitude for coming up with such a name. The women were sweet, but as sweet as they were, they were almost as tough as the men. After all, hell hath no fury as a woman scorned.

It was proven to her when the men had snuck into the kitchen in hopes of grabbing some early dinner, only to be chased out with pans and knives. After all, these women were used to the unorthodox methods at Masamune's compound, and if they weren't used to it, they would be soon enough— like her. Unlike others, they had a will of steel. These women had men who went to war; and many of them had died on the battlefield. If it was not a strong woman who could stand strong even without her husband, then Aiko didn't know what strength was. In ways, she looked up to them as they did to her.

Within the compound, there were more people as the age increased. The older women and men who worked in or near the compound adored her, some of them muttering that she was so much cuter than their own child. Aiko could see where they were coming from, but she thought their children (or any child really) were a delight. There weren't many servants that brought their kids to the compound, but the few that came made up for their lack of numbers.

Perhaps she was a little biased, having no siblings, but even though little Kimaru and Yuchiko were rowdy to the point some people were bound to pop their veins in annoyance, Aiko saw to it that she became their older sister and loved them to bits. In many ways, this unfamiliar and unconditional kindness toward their mischievous attitude scared them a little.

Their mothers called her a saint, but realistically she thought herself as more lonely than anything else, especially since there were only five people that were around her age, and she had spoken to only three of them (not counting Masamune since he was technically five years older than her).

Toshiro had spoken to her once about the drills of that day before he had left for patrol, and Hokaku spent most of one week talking to her about his family and his friends in the army before he too was sent off to camp elsewhere. They were nineteen and twenty respectively, a few years older than her, but they were of closest age to her asides from Yuki.

Yuki was a spontaneous, outgoing girl who was seventeen like her, but she had left not too long ago to marry a man outside the compound. She had been a lovely friend to Aiko, more than she could ever wish for. She was the one force the young samurai to sit and relax; if she hadn't, Aiko would have driven herself to death trying to please everyone left and right.

"You're too nice," Yuki had said patronizingly, hand on her hip after she served Aiko a cup of tea. "You're going to kill yourself trying to help everyone but yourself."

If it weren't for her, Aiko thought, maybe she wouldn't have survived at the compound as long as she had. That was why, with bittersweetness and gratitude, she waved her friend goodbye as she left Aiko to marry the man of her dreams.

And then she was alone.

That was a month before the last day of November, so she was fine on her own, kind of.

Soon enough, autumn rolled by in a blink. Aiko could hear the crescendo of horns, the faster beat of the war drums. Masamune announced one dinner two weeks ago that their journey to conquer Japan would begin in a month. Her heart skipped in something akin to fear when he glanced at her for a moment and looked away smirking.

She had gotten the message though.

It was time for her to fight.

And maybe that was when it all went downhill.

As the compound got busier for the upcoming monthly banquet, Aiko could feel her anxiety grow even as she worked for hours on end to help the servants with their daily duties. The more prepared the compound looked, the more apprehensive she became as she knew that within the next banquet or so, she'd be one of many to be sent off to war.

It'd be the start of her journey to find home, but she was far from feeling ready.

As a former tennis player, Aiko should have known that after her period of tremendous growth, she would reach the infamous plateau. She had been improving so quickly, learning new skills everyday and almost perfecting them through months of training.

Then one day, it was as if she started to forget.

The strangely bitter December gust roughly swept through the courtyard, almost throwing Aiko off her balance as she practiced, for the sixth time, a swing that was a little off. Grunting in frustration, Aiko threw her arms in the air and hazardously waved the sword, trying to get rid of the kink in her arm she thought she had. Desperately trying to push off the oncoming urge to panic, Aiko took a deep breath and prepared to perform more routines- as many as it took until she became better.

Still, the lingering feeling of apprehension made her breaths shallow and her legs frozen. Again, even after trying her best to perform as she did last week, Aiko still felt that her strokes were far below par, and she became disheartened once again. She gave up on focusing and stared at the sword in her hand like it was a curse.

If she kept on going down this road, what was she going to do? Her sudden decline in skill couldn't be anyone's fault but hers. Her throat stricken at the thought of talking to Masamune about delaying her departure and then seeing his disappointed stare.

She couldn't handle it. She wouldn't be able to handle having the one person she cared the most to look at her as if she failed him for the last time. That was why she just had to improve or else-

"I was wondering where you were."

Aiko jerked her head up to see the One Eyed Dragon giving her that feral grin once again, casually putting his sword on his shoulders as he approached her. And as an automatic response, she took a step back in fear, though it was too small for Masamune's one eye to notice.

"L- Lord Masamune..." Aiko stuttered, her voice dying before she could relay the thoughts that plagued her. She couldn't think of a way to put it delicately, and the thought of his reaction put raw fear into her. She stood there miserably mute.

As if she was in his blind spot, Masamune didn't notice her discomfort and glanced around the vacant courtyard. "It's not as warm as that rainy day," he started, his breath becoming visible as a white mist, "but hey, if we start sparring now we'll be pumping sweat in no time!" Then he spun around to face Aiko with full intent to charge her in the next moment, so she quickly let out a sound that bizarrely sounded like a strangled cat and scared chicken at the same time, which startled the both of them to stop.

"Err- wait!" She stuttered, her mind racing for an excuse she could probably tell him. "I, uh, I just remembered that I needed to go help the others with... banquet stuff, so I need to go..." As she spoke, Aiko began to slowly inch away from Masamune who stared at her with a look of confusion.

She wanted to say so many things, her feelings almost making her blurt out the unadulterated, rambled truth to Masamune because she almost couldn't handle hiding away from him as much as his reaction to her disappointments. However, the key word within all that was "almost." It was like she almost said everything out loud.

(The reason why I don't want to fight you is because despite all my hard work and all of your teachings, I'm still failing and I don't know why and I want to cry, cry, cry- and I don't want to see your face when you see me lose everything that you thought you saw in me and loved me for it- I see it in your eyes and I love you when you see it, but not when I'm like this-

I can't stand you hating me-)

"What are you-?" He began, but he was interrupted by her rushed "Yeah, sorry, got to go, bye-!" And he was suddenly left in the empty courtyard, a lonely wind blowing past him. With only Aiko's abandoned sword and himself in the courtyard, Masamune took his time to process what had happened.

Did she just... avoid him?

Despite the rather concerned question, the One Eyed Dragon merely shrugged, figuring it was just her time of the month or something like that; this was especially since Aiko was someone who could also stand back up no matter what happened, so he had no worries. Absolutely none.

Masamune casually let his sword sheath and he stretched, a sudden fatigue taking over him. The cold was becoming unbearable with only his one-layer kimono, and without a girl like Aiko to fire him up, he was left with nothing. Even so, there was that nagging voice in the back of his head (that strangely sounded like Kojuurou) that told something was very, very wrong.

Even though the village streets were silent, all Aiko could hear was the jumble of thoughts that wouldn't shut up. She knew that she wouldn't be able to run from Masamune forever. She knew that she would have to tell him about her sudden inability to fight. Even if she knew she had to face him sooner or later, it didn't make it any easier to do so.

Aiko didn't have an exact script on what she was going to say to her lord. On one hand, she can imagine him understanding her; perhaps he was like her when he was younger? But knowing the way he looked at her with such expectations, she felt that no, he wouldn't get it when he wanted so much more than she could give. One thing she knew, too, was the fact that this disappointment would hurt him as much as her.

She knew that if she couldn't pick herself up, she wouldn't be able to have the confidence to do anything else. This would destroy her, and this scared her more than she could say.

What would the ladies from the village tell her? Did they have problems like her? Aiko doubted it, having an occupation that was far different from a regular women's. In many ways, this was hard; she had no one to ask for help or could empathize the way she was- a woman warrior. If there were others in the country, which she knew there were, she could only hope someone could drop by and help. That was a farfetched dream though. And besides, even if she needed help, she wasn't sure if she could ask.

It was strange how she didn't have a problem before, but with her pride as the only prized woman warrior of both Masamune and the villagers, she couldn't let that image be sullied. Even if that was probably stupid and a little prideful, Aiko couldn't help but feel that way in this situation. It was either that or Masamune rubbed off on her. If it did, she knew now what a heavy burden a reputation presented to the bearer.

Aiko gripped the planks of the cart she was riding hard enough her knuckles turned white and bowed her head sullenly. Throughout this movement, the four guardsmen who often traveled with her on trips to the city gave each other a glance.

"Uh... Miss Aiko?" Bunshichi began hesitantly, "Are you alright?"

"Huh?" Aiko looked up and gave them a vacant smile that didn't reach her eyes the way it usually did. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said, "why?"

"Oh, n- nothing!" Samanosuke laughed nervously, a little more than concerned about the female warrior they had all had grown accustomed to. When Aiko went back to looking at the ground, the four men shared a look and Yoshinao nodded determinedly, hoping to find the help she needed by telling Lord Kojuurou. She was the ray of sunshine in their monotonous life, and they'd be damned to see it fade when they were all there to help her.

Almost immediately after they arrived home and carried the supplies in, the four guardsmen hurriedly excused themselves, hoping they didn't look suspicious. They almost bumped into people when they started to sprint down the halls, and only skidded to a stop when they reached Lord Masamune's quarters. The two silhouettes in the room paused their quiet conversation as the men kneeled down in respect.

"Boss! Sir Katakura!" exclaimed Magobei. "We need to speak to you about something!"

There was a moment of stillness before they could see Sir Katakura bow his head slightly and then give his lord a look. He asked, "What's the matter?"

"It's, err-"

"It's Miss Aiko, sir!" Yoshinao exclaimed, leaning forward unconsciously, desperate to help their female friend. "She's been acting real strange lately, and the men and I have been worried to death!"

There was a slight shuffle from Kojuurou's right as the warlord shifted his position. Although it would have been nothing to others, the Right Eye could see that Masamune was perturbed by these news. "What do you mean by strange?" Kojuurou pressed, and the answers came rapidly.

"She's too tense, sir-!"

"It's like she's holding something like a great burden...?"

"She's just not herself..."

The men trailed off after their blurred explanations, staring with great hope at the sliding door that their problems would be answered.

Calmly, Kojuurou nodded and gave another glance at his lord who was looking away. "I see," he said, his careful eyes never leaving Masamune's figure. "Thank you for informing me this. You are excused."

"Yes, sir!"

They responded in a jumble of voices before scrambling away, their footsteps disappearing into the distance before Kojuurou spoke up into the silence. "My lord," the retainer asked slowly, "were you aware of Aiko's... predicament?"

"'Aware'... Well..." Masamune heaved a sigh as he rolled his neck, suddenly feeling tired, as he has often been ever since he last saw Aiko. He gave a small snort and then replied dryly, "I wouldn't go to say I knew what was wrong, but something was off."

He shifted in his sitting position and rolled his shoulder, stiff from disuse; he hadn't tried to spar since Aiko rejected him. Well, again, it wasn't exactly 'reject,' he thought, but it was something like that.

Masamune felt hesitant to actually train now that he knew there was no reason to if he couldn't witness Aiko's progress or the gleam in her eye when she came up with an idea to trounce him. The only reason why Kojuurou hadn't been nagging him to take a few swings was because he was willing to go out.

Because Aiko was with him- and that spoke volumes he couldn't describe.

To Masamune, despite Kojuurou having one of the best poker face he'd ever seen, the retainer's changing expressions, though microscopic, were recognizable. The warlord, having his retainer by his side even in his childhood, understood Kojuurou as much as he did him... most of the time. With Kojuurou as his mentor and teacher, he had faced countless expressions and moments of emotion that he no longer had to actually face the man to know how he was feeling.

Masamune knew that his retainer right now was looking him with mild disappointment. And yet, even though the One Eyed Dragon could acknowledge his feelings, he still could not understand half of the time exactly why his retainer was feeling that way.

The stuffy quiet stretched on for a while as Masamune scratch his head trying to think up of an explanation while Kojuuoru simply stared at his lord in a near-perfect deadpan.

The young lord sighed, "What is it, Kojuurou-?"

"One would think that, by now, you would know your own samurai," his Right Eye spoke blandly. He gave his lord a pointed look as he tried to brush the comment off.

"I know enough about her to trust her; she's not the type to stay in these moods," Masamune said, waving his hand flippantly. "I'm sure it's nothing. She'll be up and at 'em in no time, you see?"

If the Number One of Oshuu had expected for his teacher to be satisfied with his answer, this wouldn't be the first time he predicted wrong. If anything, Kojuurou's reactions went into the opposite direction, a deep frown finding its way onto his face. The thing was: Kojuurou never burst into a lecture until it was necessary. And it was only necessary if Masamune couldn't learn his lesson, whether it was to stop trying to run from practice or to stop harassing his brother. Usually, Masamune would know a little bit on why he was in the wrong, but in this case, without Kojuurou's verbal urges, he had no idea where he screwed up.

His retainer sighed and shook his head. "I can only hope that you're right." Kojuurou said wryly, "If you're not, then things can only go bad to worse; you realize this, yes?"

With a curt nod, Masamune looked away, feeling chastised even though Kojuurou hadn't lectured him. "I'll go talk to her," he said. "Things'll be fine." The words rolled off his tongue easily but now he was feeling as if he was a little unsure of such sentiments. Tiny flashes of Aiko appeared in his mind; her eyes no longer had that bright determination she had before.

Where had it gone?

Suddenly Masamune was more alarmed at the fact that he hadn't realized this calamity earlier. But what was he going to do?

The two fell into a contemplative silence.

It didn't take long for Aiko to be caught alone by Masamune. She had tried her hardest to avoid the man, but as his samurai, it was harder to avoid him from clashing swords with her. If he did, well, nothing would have to be said about her skills.

As if without a worry, Masamune strolled down the halls and called out for his female samurai who froze in her tracks (she cringed) and turned around to face him. He gave her a grin to which she simply returned minimally with a tight-lipped smile, making him falter and truly realize why he was suddenly approaching her.

"My lord," she acknowledged, though her attention was diverted to all around her, searching for a way to escape the conversation.

"Aiko," he replied, a little perturbed by her jittery state. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" Masamune couldn't help but give a small smile at that- truth was, he missed interacting with her; it was carefree and fun, and he would never get boring with her. He could honestly say that she was one of the greatest friends he had, not that he had many to count with his secluded compound, but the sentiment was good enough.

Masamune couldn't be help but feel rather let down when Aiko merely fidgeted in her spot instead of reacting like she would have normally done. She could have blushed and stuttered cutely, or she could have let out a melodic laugh that would have her eyes crinkled and cheeks flushing. He received none of that, and he began to wonder why.

"Err, yeah... I, um..." Aiko paused, her heart beating hard enough she could feel it pulsing in her ears. "I've been busy- like you, right? So..." She shuffled, oblivious to what to do in a situation like this if she had never planned to be caught like this.

To Masamune, it sounded as if she was making up an excuse. His throat tightened nervously, unsure if the girl in front of her was hiding something from him or something happened for her to react this way. Either way, the news would not be pleasant. Still, he desperately tried to give her the benefit of the doubt and asked slowly, "...Is there anything wrong?"

Just like that, Aiko's brain shut down, and all that she had planned to say to him after days of thought were dumped out into the abyss of no return. She stood there numbly, staring at the man who was looking at her in half-worry, half-confusion, as she was unable to respond to him the way she wanted to.

"I- I'm not ready to go yet," she said quickly, trying to avoid the possible disappointment for her failures.

Despite her wishes, she hadn't realized that her words were as blunt as a katana (which is, not at all).

"...What do you mean?"

In one part of his mind, he was screaming at himself that this was bad, bad, bad! But the small part of his brain still wanted to believe that she didn't mean what he thought.

Aiko hadn't expected him to respond so emotionlessly and stuttered out a pathetic response she was rather ashamed of, if her reddening face was an indication. "Uh, well- I'm just... not ready, not prepared..." And she looked up only to flinch at the restraint of rage hidden in his dragon eye.

Even from when he was young, Masamune was used to pain, to physical wounds and mental scars alike. His pride was torn and mended, and even the most traumatizing events didn't give him as much of a shock as this. Without warning, Masamune felt as if Aiko had personally picked up a sword and rammed it into his chest with all her might. That was because, despite her attempts to subdue the oncoming emotions, Masamune felt more betrayed than ever before. An angry heat began to burn within his chest at the thought that Aiko, of all people, would back out on a promise that they had made together. Why else would she say she "wasn't ready"? She was lying, and he didn't understand why!

"Are you saying-" Masamune growled out dangerously low, "You better be joking with me right now because I know you've been ready for a long time, and the only reason you'd back out is because you're afraid."

"I'm not chickening out!" She said hotly, offended that he would even think of her that way. She spoke defensively, "Why would you say that?"

"Well, I don't know, Aiko," Masamune stressed, a derisive tone creeping into his voice as he continued bitterly, "I'm just a little confused right now because I have no idea what the hell you're doing!"

Jumbling over her words, Aiko sputtered out, alarmed at his raising voice and lashing out at the situation. "I'm just not comfortable going out to the battlefield- what else do you want me to say?" She asked, her voice cracking midway, her words bordering desperation. Thoughts of regret clouded her thinking, what-ifs making her panic, and the notion that 'if she had told him what she felt in the first place, none of this would have happened' made her heart clench at their stupidity. But it was too late to say it; Masamune would never believe her now.

"An explanation would be nice," snapped Masamune who no longer bothered trying to hide his undertone. "Anything but what you're giving me, which is BS-"

"What do you mean it's 'BS'?" Aiko sputtered, all of her frustration pouring out. She glared at her lord indignantly as tears stung her eyes painfully. "How can you- How can you say that? I'm just not ready for war! What more do you want-?"

"So all of this was pointless." Masamune let his answer drown out the sound of what he believed to be her excuses. Miffed, Aiko could only clench her fists and try to calm down before she either tried to tackle her lord or burst into frustrated tears.

The warlord retorted shortly, his anger seeping out in waves until he was yelling in full volume at the girl, "Training you and helping you was a complete waste of time because in the end, you aren't taking it seriously!"

"How dare you!"

Their screams overlapped each other and clashed together horribly like shattered glass on the floor. Both of them glared intensely at each other with raw emotion- indigence, anger, disappointment, desperation- and refused to back down in this battle of will and reason. The ugly anger coursing through Aiko suddenly exploded, opening the door of darkness Aiko didn't think she had. Cooly, as her anger heightened to cold rage, she stepped closer to Masamune until she was chest to chest and spoke darkly, "You don't know me," Aiko began to yell, "you don't know anything about me!"

Refusing to back down and his anger taking over, Masamune pushed her smaller body back despite her equally stubborn stance. "I don't need to know anything because apparently everything that I thought I knew about you was a lie! You're just a coward!"

"I'm not-!"

Masamune pressed on, moving closer to Aiko as she took steps backwards to avoid him; in ways, it seemed as if the predator was forcing the prey into an inescapable corner. Suddenly, Aiko felt breathless.

The One Eyed Dragon leaned down to her as the female samurai pushed herself against the wall. He said quietly though with the vehemence of someone who was screaming out his hatred, "The person I wanted to help wasn't someone weak like you."

...

...

Aiko stared up at Masamune with a poker face neither of them knew she had as he stared down at her, wondering what was going on in her head. As the silence caved in on them, Masamune could already feel the adrenaline disappearing, leaving him with a feeling of dread as the result of this fight.

His hands were placed right next to her narrow shoulders and his head was dipped down in order to look into her eyes with the close proximity they had. Their bodies were close enough to almost touch, but even at a small distance, Masamune could feel the warmth Aiko possessed. When he thought about these things, Masamune would have felt that same burning desire trying to overwhelm him, but now, within this certain cold wintry night with his samurai trembling slightly underneath him, trapped, he could feel that emotion increase ten-fold.

Despite the situation, Masamune could feel his desire pulsing through him, making his fists clench onto the wooden wall behind Aiko and his breath hitch.

This was absolutely not an appropriate response for someone who just screamed at a person for apparent betrayal, but with Aiko, certainly, everything was an exception.

He let out breathily, "Aiko-"

"Don't."

She responded with a monotone that matched her poker face. She felt cold inside, despite the warmth that Masamune offered. But even though she felt her body desperately call out for him, she refused to accept his warmth. For her, it seemed as if her heart had dropped to the bottom of her stomach and there was no longer anything in the place of it.

She was a coward?

She would have never thought so, but she supposed, in many ways, she was one. After all, she was running away again.

"Let go of me," she demanded quietly, pushing his hand away from her, only to have him grab onto her wrist.

Masamune growled suddenly, his eye flashing, "Where do you think you're going?" He glared at her, willing her not to leave, her tone reminding him of what had just occurred despite his jumbled emotions.

Aiko felt her anger flare again as she ripped her hand away from her lord, almost slapping him in the face. "You can deal with me however you want," she stated before spinning around on her heel and walked away, fuming.

At her impertinence, Masamune yelled out, wanting to have the last say in an argument he thought had already ended, "Maybe I will!"

He saw her freeze in her steps and then continue on, as if considering his words for the first time. He didn't let her out of his sight until she turned the corner.

Finally, Masamune let out a great sigh and combed through his messy brown hair in frustration. Despite the misery, he found that he loved every single moment he was fighting with her. It seemed that their negligence in interacting with one another deprived Masamune of Aiko so much that everything that involved her felt good even if it wasn't supposed to be. Just being with her was the most alive he'd ever felt. Now that the argument was over and the adrenaline subsided, all the One Eyed Dragon could do was bemoan that this delayed conversation would continue to set back their relationship. He didn't want something stupid as his temper to ruin whatever he had with her, but...

What the hell was that all about?

He took a deep breath to calm his glowing anger before he was tempted to chase down Aiko and force the words from her mouth. She was lying to him, that much he knew, but about what and why he didn't understand. Masamune had to try again, but before that, he needed to calm down before he did something he'd regret.

This addiction to her was threatening to tear them apart.

When Aiko closed the door to her room behind her, she let out a breath she didn't know she held before leaning back against the wall and sliding down. She dreaded tomorrow where she wouldn't be able to bear looking at Masamune until she fixed the problem; and she hoped it was soon, because she wasn't sure if even she could keep up this act.

She rubbed the place where her heart was, the constant clenching hurting her physically. Masamune's words were harsh, but she found truth in them, as she always did. She needed to step it up, but the question was, how?

Aiko let out a sigh as she rolled her shoulders and prepared a futon to sleep on; she was tired from the emotionally draining fight, and she knew that if she continued to think about it, nothing would be solved and she would end up crying for no reason on her part.

Once she closed her eyes under the covers, she immediately fell asleep.

A/N: :) See you next chapter!