"Do not delay your return. With the resurrection of Motonari, it is imperative that all of my vassals be prepared for the next battle." Nobunaga clapped his hand on Mitsuhide's shoulder. Mitsuhide knew this was an acknowledgement, in fact, praise of the work he had performed thus far. That hand, and the light squeeze said, 'thank you for your loyalty, I am glad you are at my side.'

Despite the praise, he was aware that they were still only at the beginning of the long battle for unification. Nobunaga had just ordered him back to Azuchi, but Mitsuhide had already known that his time in Sakai had come to an end. There was nothing left to be accomplished here that could not also be accomplished in Azuchi. Yet, even with that knowledge, he risked looking toward the deck where Katsu was carefully organizing their supplies. How would she feel about leaving Sakai with her mission unfulfilled?

Nobunaga followed the direction of his gaze. "An interesting woman, this 'Kaya.' Several months ago, a youth by the name of Katsu helped translate a conversation between a Nanban merchant and myself. At the time, I offered, er, him a place in Azuchi. Please inform… Katsu… that this offer is still available." Though Nobunaga didn't directly state that there would also be a place available in his bed, Mitsuhide knew that subsequent offer would be made to Katsu in due time.

Not letting his internal rejection of that idea show on his face, Mitsuhide simply nodded. "I will relay the information to Katsu. I have agreed to help her locate her missing father, though, as my lord wishes, I would be able to oversee that process from Azuchi."

"Good. I like her." Mai leaned into Hideyoshi's embrace… in fact she'd hardly left it since they'd been rescued. "It will be nice to have another woman around."

"Dear me, is living with Azuchi's housemistress not enough for you, Mouse?" Mitsuhide included Hideyoshi in the teasing tone he rarely dared use with Nobunaga, and had the reward of seeing a faint blush on the man's face.

"We can indeed prepare quarters for her in the castle. That is, my friend, if you can catch her." Hideyoshi lobbed that teasing tone right back at him, and gestured to the docks, where Katsu was currently dashing away from the ship.

"Catching her is simple enough. Bringing her to Azuchi in one piece after that, is not something I can promise." With a quick bow to them all, Mitsuhide took off after the brat. Odds were less that she was running away, and more that she had seen someone suspicious and gone in pursuit without thinking. Motonari?

Would she never learn to think before acting?

Keeping an eye on his wayward charge, Mitsuhide soon gave up trying to melt invisibly into the crowd, hoping that at the end of the chase, he would not find Katsu again in danger. Motonari would be less than friendly after she destroyed his fort. For that matter, Mitsuhide was not eager to spend another month searching for a missing person if the pirate-lord decided to take her prisoner again in revenge.

Nor would Nobunaga be as understanding when the missing person was not one of his generals or an Oda Princess. He would likely tell Mitsuhide to return to Azuchi at once and forget about Katsu and… that…

Thankfully was not a decision he need to make.

This time.

Katsu was standing in the middle of the crowded market, looking around in all directions. Whoever she had been following – and it was now clear she had been doing just that – had disappeared.

Mitsuhide put his arm around her and ushered her into an alley, away from curious minds. "Is it beyond your ability to stay in one place for any amount of time longer than a heartbeat?" Rhetorical question, for obviously not.

"But I thought I saw-" She gestured helplessly toward the marketplace, then let her arm fall limply to her side.

"Who or what did you see, Brat?" If it was indeed Motonari, then immediate plans should be made. Who or what would have made him speed back to Sakai? "Did Motonari return already?"

She sighed, sounding more defeated than she ever had – not even after her concussion left her emotional and insecure had she seemed so unlike herself. "No. I thought I saw someone from years ago. But now... I don't know."

"The man who tried to kill you? Iekane?" Were that the case, if Mitsuhide could lay his hands on him, Iekane would discover the true meaning of torture. A week in a tiny coffin without food or drink perhaps. Then again, it was possible that Katsu had run after someone she wanted to see. "Or… Akihira?"

What if it had been Yoshimoto? No… Mitsuhide dismissed that thought as soon as it came to him. The Imagawa was incapable of being inconspicuous. Mitsuhide would have seen him.

She shook her head and shrunk smaller into herself. "No. Someone who's been missing for a lot longer… so… probably just in my imagination."

Her quarry could be anywhere by now, as the emptying market only contained merchants who were rapidly packing up their wares in the glare of the setting sun. No use prolonging things. "Come along, we've much to do."

Without further protest, she seemed content to allow him to shepherd her back to the machiya, where Kyubei was waiting for him… waiting for him with an expression of concern not normally found in his placid mien.

"What is the news?" Mitsuhide asked his vassal. Peripherally he was aware that Katsu had retreated to the staircase, but had not bothered to escape to her own quarters. Though she was not near enough to be able to hear them, he guided Kyubei further away.

Kyubei simply handed him a sealed and folded message. "I intercepted this before it could reach Azuchi… but… it is meant for you."

"You read it?" Mitsuhide could and did trust Kyubei to open and read messages that he deemed urgent. At Kyubei's acknowledgement, he unfolded the letter. The message was short and to the point. The defeated Shogun, Yoshiaki, rather than meekly accept exile, had found a refuge with a rebellious daimyo and was gathering an army.

Once again, he glanced at Katsu, recalling the information that she had discovered weeks ago…

"The other thing… um, I had a source inform me that he had seen Shojumaru converse with an agent of Yoshiaki's."

"A source? I ought to commend you for having managed to turn an Imagawa into a spy, for Yoshimoto is the only person I can imagine who would realize that Shojumaru had a connection with the deposed shogun."

That… changed a number of things. For one, it very likely meant that Motonari was either with Yoshiaki right now, or would be there soon. It also heightened the need to return to Azuchi to discuss this information with Nobunaga. But the end result would be the creation of a new disguise and a personal investigation into the shogun.

The search for Akihira… Mitsuhide rubbed the back of his head, wondering how he could be in multiple places at once. Sending Kyubei in disguise to spy on the shogun… no… he could not put his vassal into that danger. He would have to go himself… and by himself. On the back of that thought, he needed to figure out what to do with Katsuko. He knew her well enough to know that she would not be content to stay in Azuchi, especially if he took off on a mission immediately after their arrival.

And he absolutely could not take her with him into Yoshiaki's den. There was too much risk involved. If anything went wrong, she would certainly be used as a weapon against him. The best thing he could do for Katsu would be to keep her far away from this latest complication.

"Kyubei, follow up on this, and see if you can confirm Yoshiaki's location." There was always the possibility that their source was mistaken, or that the original message had been stolen and replaced with a misdirection that would send him into a trap.

Kyubei, already in the disguise he had used when they were originally tracking Kennyo, bowed piously, and slipped out the door.

Crisis one handled, Mitsuhide turned his attention to Katsu, who hadn't yet stirred from the moment that she'd flopped down unceremoniously upon the staircase. "Dear me, I hadn't expected you to interpret 'don't move,' so literally. You've never been this obedient in the past, and I'm defining 'the past' as earlier today."

Rather than argue, she asked, in a too-quiet tone. "May I have Aki's letter now?"

Her behavior was somewhat alarming. By now he could tell when she was saving her energy for a larger argument. This was not the case here. She seemed to have given up. Still, he attempted to coax her into a better frame of mind. "Noticed it's no longer in the box, did you?"

"I know you took it with you when you went to Azuchi. After that… it was less noticing and more of a logical assumption." She shrugged. "I would have moved it."

"If we're going to be making demands, would it not make more sense to have this conversation in the living area? You can't be comfortable." And perhaps once in the relative comfort of their private quarters, she would return to her more normal behavior. He missed teasing her and watching her eyes sparkle as she threw a cheeky response at him.

Slowly she stood up and began climbing toward the second floor.

"You're not heading for your doom." Though he still hadn't forgotten the wave of fear when he saw Katsu and Mai in danger from Motonari's soldiers, he was past the point of threatening and punishing her. It seemed nothing he said or did made a difference. She was who she was. "You may cease walking like a prisoner on their way to her execution any time now."

While she waited quietly for him, he took a moment to make tea. It was the one thing he could always count on successfully preparing – in fact, it was rather a point of pride that he made very good tea. Hopefully, that would settle her nerves, and allow them to have a productive… negotiation. These discussions wouldn't be any fun if she didn't fight back. "Akihira's letter. Dear me, whatever did I do with it? My memory is so faulty these days. Perhaps it exists with the memory of you promising to do what I ordered."

Thankfully, either the tea, or the teasing finally snapped her out of her daze. She looked up and stared him directly in the eyes. "If you'd bothered to ask me what happened instead of assuming I willfully disobeyed you, you would discover your memory is not faulty at all. I meant to stay in the tree. I would have stayed in the tree, but Mai chose that night to overpower her guard, and the commander got suspicious. He sent another guard to check on her, and I was afraid that one would raise the alarm."

"Mai overpowered her guard?" Before he'd left the Oda ship, Mai had strongly hinted that there was more to her rescue than he realized, but he'd not understood until this moment that meant she herself had precipitated the event.

"She hit him with a bucket then garroted him with the chain. Well not permanently. I expect he'll have a sore throat for a while, but he should have survived." She stared into her tea cup, and took a fortifying sip. "I held back as long as I could, but the look on the face of the man the commander sent to check on her… I didn't trust that look."

Ah. Mitsuhide understood. The look she referred to was a look that he hoped Mai… or Katsu would never encounter. But of course having experienced the slave ship, Katsu already knew what it meant. He could understand why she had made the decision to leave the tree. That didn't mean he agreed with it though. "You were wrong, as evidenced by the fact that Hideyoshi and I did have to fight our way to that building, so the very thing you intended to prevent occurred anyway. That said, I acquit you of disobeying my order on a whim. Though your conclusion was wrong, I agree that you had few options to choose from." He also understood that… she hadn't trusted him. Surely, he had proven his worth to her by now. "I'm not sure what to do with you."

I don't know how to keep you safe.

"Aki's letter? Please?"

Maybe the only way to keep her safe would be to let her go. He'd tried once already to remove her from the danger of Motonari… and failed. Yoshiaki represented a greater threat. "It's under my futon mattress. Had you ever opened up renegotiations, I expect you would have discovered it naturally, as it does tend to crackle during vigorous sleeping."

She got up and sent him a look of pure incredulous scorn. "Under your mattress? That's the most-"

"Obvious location.'' He took a moment to let that sink in before adding, "and yet you failed to look there."

She paused, but her feet were already pointing toward the stairs. "May I go get?"

So eager to leave his company. "Again, I find myself incredulous that you're finally located your manners. I was under the impression that you would simply take it."

"Well I would if you weren't home, but it did feel a little rude, I suppose, when you were sitting right here." She shrugged and now that look of pure mischief lit up her face. "And I really don't want to wait until you go out... unless... you'd like to leave right now and let me think I am getting away with something?"

He could not think of an appropriate response. Between that lively… that beautiful expression on her face… and the fact that she had managed to verbally best him, all he could do for a moment was admire the sight of her. Arms crossed defiantly, chin in the air, and that attitude of pure devilment.

Admiration gave way to the realization of the humor of the entire exchange. From somewhere deep inside, laughter bubbled up, pushing past muscles that had been locked and rusted tight with lack of use. "Go. Go."

He could not remember the last time he had laughed like this.

Maybe never.

He couldn't give this up.

He couldn't give Kats-

Yoshiaki.

A dry voice at the back of his head, reminding him that every moment she spent in his company increased the danger to her. He had chosen this life. He had chosen darkness. He could not be responsible for dragging anyone else deeper into it. The narrow escape that Hideyoshi and Mai had just had should have carved that message on his soul.

But if he had to give her up tomorrow, he would at least have one more night in her company. One more night of teasing her. Of possibly sharing a laugh.

He set down his tea, and followed her upstairs, hoping to waylay her before she got too involved in translating her father's letter. Aki had waited this long. He could wait a little bit longer.

Katsuko was still in his room when he reached the doorway. He watched as she smoothed out his bedding. Then she…

Leaned over his covers and sniffed them.

Interesting.

Gratifying.

It appeared she did not dislike him as much as she claimed. Nor was she indifferent. So when she looked up, and winced when she saw he had witnessed her action, he teased her once more. "I'm beginning to suspect you are indeed interested in renegotiation. Perhaps as a way to say goodbye to our sweet love nest before we go back to Azuchi tomorrow."

"Don't flatter yours- tomorrow? What about Aki?" She pressed the letter against her stomach.

"I haven't reneged on our original contract." Unfortunately, he didn't know exactly how quickly he'd be able to turn his full attention to helping her search. He would not go back on his promise… but how could he spend all his time focusing on one man, when the reemergence of Yoshiaki could destroy everything they had worked for… everything Nobunaga had already accomplished… everything and everyone that Mitsuhide cared about.

Now was not the time to have that discussion. He'd rather wait until he could ensure her continued safety while the threat of Yoshiaki was neutralized. "We appear to have exhausted our resources here in Sakai. In Azuchi, I have more tools at hand. As well you would have the booksellers as a hub of information."

She seemed to accept that explanation, although not entirely happily. "What are we doing here then?"

"Packing." He moved closer to her. Close enough to touch her. Close enough for her to touch him. "Or, if you're interested – renegotiating."

Close enough to touch… but neither of them did so. His fingers itched to brush her hair from her eyes, or trace the outline of her lips.

"Are you asking?" Her chin tilted up, challenging him to take that next step. In in that challenge was a refusal to take that step herself.

"No." He gave in and tugged on her hair. Let her interpret that how she pleased. "I am suggesting an activity that I believe we would both enjoy. You were the one who was treating my bed sheet like it was a flower." Since she hadn't moved away from him yet, he tapped her nose once, twice, then let it rest against her lips. Her breath warmed his skin.

She stepped back and the room was instantly colder. "I have a letter to read."

He indicated the door. All she needed to do was walk past him. To walk away. "I'm not stopping you."

Not breaking eye contact, she walked past him. Head high.

But he could see the effort behind the unaffected pretense.

He listened as she made her way to her room… heard her door slid open, then shut, before he released the breath he had been holding.

He hadn't expected her to renegotiate.

But he'd…. hoped she would.

Hope. It had been a long time since he had hoped for anything that would be purely for himself.

For Mai and Hideyoshi's sake, he had hoped he would be able to find them alive. For Nobunaga, for the people of this country's sake, he had hoped that the man's campaign would be successful. For himself… he couldn't even hope that he would live to see that success happen.

Tonight though, he had hoped for one last evening spent with Katsuko.

"Are you asking?" Her chin tilted up, challenging him to take that next step.

Apparently, yes, he was going to take that step. To ask.

He walked to her room, then…

She was just on the other side of the door. He didn't know how he knew… but he knew. Just as he knew that by the time he mentally counted to ten, she would open her door.

He leaned against the wall to wait.

One…

Two…

Three…

Four…

Five…

Six…

Seven…

Eight…

Nine …

She opened the door, then glared as soon as she caught sight of him. "I'm just getting a drink of water.''

"Were you?" Neither of them would be forced to ask the obvious question. Instead, he simply… reached out his hand.