"Suisaka. It has been a long time."
The veteran spun, unable to help himself from raising a brow even as he automatically fell to one knee in deference to the owner of that voice. The words confused him.
"My lady... it has been but a fortnight since I was last assigned to your guard."
Genuine laughter fell from the lips of his mistress – a sound which had not been heard in the Tachibana castle for over a year now. "Remember when you asked me where the lady you were sworn to had gone?" Curiosity overtaking him, finally Kazaki dared to raise his head to meet his lady's gaze.
There, the volcanic fires of Kyushu once again burned brightly. "Lady Ginchiyo..." He breathed. Some part of him wondered what had rekindled them, when not even the news of the defeat of the Western army, and his death, had managed to do so almost two years ago.
"Come with me, Suisaka. You and the other men loyal to me. I am in need of an armed escort." She smiled confidently down at his still kneeling form.
Swept away on the tide of her renewed presence, it was only much later, when the eighteen of them were riding out of the castle, that Kazaki thought to ask. "Where to, my lady?"
She paused, as if searching for words. "Sekigahara. There I have something I must do." Her tone was quiet, but firm.
Kazaki watched his mistress carefully. There was only one man she could be referring to, and the tessen that had been her constant companion since the messenger from Sekigahara was a dead giveaway. Even now it lay tucked into her belt at her side, along with her sword.
Still, the exact nature of their relationship, the politics that had driven them apart, the reason Lady Ginchiyo was now headed for the place of his death... Kazaki was but a common soldier, if one who saw more than most others did; he had no stomach for these things. Ultimately, only one thing mattered to him at that moment.
The Lord and Lady of the Tachibana had returned.
Epilogue
Two months after their return from Sekigahara, the Lady Ginchiyo passed away in her sleep. It was a peaceful death, they said, and she was buried beside her father, with her sword, the Raikiri, clutched to her chest.
They didn't have any health-related explanations, for the Lady of the Tachibana had been hale. Not to mention that the physician had cleared up any possibility foul play, though in any case, no one had even suspected that anyone would want to poison their beloved lady. It couldn't even have been psychological, for Lady Ginchiyo had been closer to her old wartime self in the last few months than at any point during the two years of her marriage.
In their hearts though, the soldiers who had accompanied her to Sekigahara for the last time, knew otherwise.
Perhaps it was because she finally knew at whose side she belonged.
A/N: I try to be as historically accurate as possible, so that my one shots on Mitsunari and Ginchiyo fit into historical continuum. This one was found languishing half-written in my laptop for years, and I've recently been inspired to finish it.