"Once again, I find myself mystified as to how to get you to stay in one place." Mitsuhide locked one end of the chain to my ankle, and the other to his own. "Finally it occurred to me that you need something to occupy yourself, a puzzle, a code, a game, or..." he handed me the lock picks, "An escape task."

"And you chose option D?" I eyed the shogi game set that he had put on display. "I do know how to play Shogi."

He he took a step toward the table and I nearly fell over. I hope he didn't noti-. His smirk told me he noticed. "In the highly unlikely event that I become tired of watching you struggle with this, we can have a game."

He wasn't completely sadistic; he had let me go to the bathroom and change into less restrictive clothing before he'd locked us together. "Won't it bother you if I'm moving around?" I tested length of the chain; I could possibly get a meter away from him.

"I will manage to live with the annoyance." He settled down at his desk, forcing me to take the cushion closest to him. On the bright side, this was an interesting challenge, he had been correct about the fact that it was something that would occupy my attention for-

Click

About a minute.

"Ha! Done." I gave Mitsuhide what I hoped was a look of triumph. Call me Houdini. Harry Houdini.

"That, was your warm up." Mitsuhide locked the chain to my ankle again, this time with a new coded lock. He must have been scouring the town to add to a collection of restraints.

Er. Locks. I totally meant locks. I reached for my foot, only to be stopped by Mitsuhide, who put that pink blindfold back on me. "Really? Is that necessary?"

"For training, possibly not, for amusement purposes, absolutely." I glared at him through the blindfold – I know, he couldn't possibly know I was glaring but it made me feel slightly better to do it. "I could only find one new lock – this will prevent you from memorizing the combination." Ok he knows I was glaring.

Then something soft and feathery brushed the bottom of my foot. "What was that? What did you just do?"

"Adding a distraction to the difficulty level." He said it matter-of-factly, daring me to accuse him of torturing me for fun.

That brushy thing - it probably was one of the peacock feathers from the large vase by the door- slithered across the bottom of my foot again. "Stop that."

"Are you ticklish, Brat?" The soft touches halted for a moment, then began again in random patterns.

"No." Not there anyway. But the unannounced guerilla attacks were working my last nerve. I never knew when, or exactly where, the feather would swoop down for a tickle raid.

"Pity." The feather teased the end of my nose. "When we first met, Aki was hurling knives at you. You cannot make me believe that knives are in fact preferable to feathers."

"I could in fact see the knives." That annoying feather hit the inside of my elbow, where I actually was ticklish, and I slapped it in annoyance. In the process, I lost my place on the lock. I could feel the barrels slip out of joint.

Grrr!

Behind me, Mitsuhide was quietly snickering. I bit the inside of my cheek, knowing that a visible sign of annoyance would simply encourage him, and started again, this time bracing myself for wherever he would strike next.

"I never imagined that distracting you would be this entertaining."

Feather.

Chin.

Feather.

Knee.

Feath - that was not a feather, Mitsuhide had drawn his finger along the inside of my arm.

"Enough!" I took hold of the chain and yanked on it hard. If he had been standing it could have pulled him over, I knew I hadn't budged him, but maybe that had stung a little.

That appeared to get the message through for he stopped pestering me, and I was able to concentrate on decoding the lock. One tumbler, two... three. Those were the ones I had solved before his tease had messed me up, so they were close to the line anyway. I pulled in the kind of focus I normally used practicing archery, direction all my attention on that one specific tumbler, shutting out everything else.

Four.

Mitsuhide didn't exist. It was me and the lock and—

A cool finger touched the back of neck. No that had been the tip of his tongue! "Ughhh!" I yanked off the blindfold, and pushed him away. "That was not part of our agreement."

"In fact it is, you will find." He sat there with that infuriating grin on his face.

"No sexual touching when we are in private." I know what is in our contract – I transcribed most of it myself.

"While we are not investigating or otherwise working," Again the calm statement dared me to argue.

I argued.

"We're not working. Nor were we working today. You were gone. I had things to do." He could not have expected me to wait patently in this house while he was gone for almost a week.

His mood flipped in an instant. One moment, I had teasing Mitsuhide, the next, that coldly furious man I had met at the beginning of the summer.

It happened so fast, I'd had no time to react. Mitsuhide knocked me backward, pushing me down on the cushion, holding my wrists to the floor. "You've been testing the boundary of our agreement from the start. Sneaking out at night, leaving when I've ordered you to stay put, breaking into my room to search it. The only freedom you have ever had is what I have granted you, and I'm rapidly losing patience with your little rebellions."

"Let go of me." I squirmed, trying to wiggle away from him, but he knew what he was doing and did not budge. "Do you want me to stab you in your sleep? Because we're getting dangerously close to the line here."

"A piece of advice, in fact two. One, death threats are useless when the other person holds all the power. Which, you will find, I do." He demonstrated this power by adding more pressure to the hold, immobilizing me from shoulder to hip. "Second, telling the person you plan to kill exactly how you plan to do it only gives them time to prepare."

Point to him. Threatening death by stab only works if you are someone like Uesugi Kenshin.

Even so, if he didn't let go of me soon, I would spend the rest of our time here getting as much creative revenge as I could manage. Maybe even longer than that. Five years from now, I would still be visiting to enact more revenge.

"Now, do I have your attention?" He looked right into my eyes, daring me to look away. Daring me to blink. I did neither. My nerves were buzzing, though, and I'm sure he could tell my pulse was racing. I could hear it in my ears. "I'll consider that a yes. There are things I do, orders I give, because they need doing, doing by me. Whenever you leave this place without my permission, without telling me where you are going, what you are doing, you risk my, yes my investigation. You, brat, are the perfect example of someone who knows just enough to be dangerous. You have skill and training, but you're reckless and overconfident." He held still for a moment longer, apparently waiting for a sign that I understood him.

"Would it kill you to explain why you're giving me orders, and what your plans are?" All I want is a little bit of logic in my life.

"You shouldn't need that from me - or anyone. Does your father explain himself to you every time?" He let go of one of my wrists to poke me in the forehead.

"N-n-no." He never had. And the things Aki had done without explanation were piling up, farther and faster than I could keep up with them.

"I don't have time step softly around your feelings about whatever you believe your father did - although I suspect it has something to do with that drawing you brought home." Again, he poked my forehead, this time more gently, taking the opportunity to brush my hair out of my eyes. "This is not a game where you play at being a spy. I'm trying to keep us alive. I'm trying to find Hideyoshi and Mai before whoever has them decides they are worth more dead than alive. Every time you fight me takes me further away from that. Do you understand?"

I nodded. I could have left it there, not let him in any further, but the lie of my life had gotten too big for me to keep locked away any further. "He left her. He left us alone with her. I never knew her as she was in that drawing… happy."

"Us?" The questioning tone in his voice reminded me that I'd never told Mitsuhide about Toshiie.

"I have a brother. He disappeared seven years ago – before Aki took me in." Our being in this era could not have been a coincidence. Why hadn't Aki managed to save both of us? Or found Toshiie in the interim?

"Maybe he believed you were safer with her." He looked away from me, and it occurred to me that Mitsuhide was more likely to relate to Aki's actions, than to mine. "Your father gave you a home after your mother died. Provided for you. Taught you. Whatever crimes he did to your family in the past, you've had several years with him. Can present actions make up for past sins?" He was still so very close to me, enough for me to notice the way his pulse sped up at the words, 'past sins.'

"It's... more complicated than that." To explain in any more detail would be to tell him about the time traveling and that just wasn't a conversation I was ready for. "Um. Will you let go of me now?"

The time for revelations had run out. Whatever accord we'd come to the night we'd talked over tea and sake was long gone, whatever honesty that had been here just a moment ago fled, leaving whatever this... this confusing, raw feeling was. There were things about me that he could not have. Not now, not ever.

I believe it was the same for him.

"I'll have your promise first. And give you one as well. If I give you an order it is because it is important, necessary, it will not be from some private whim." He touched my mouth with one cold finger. "So if I tell you the sky is green, and that the moon is the sun, you must agree, and obey. Do I have your word?"

"Yes." I was still going to stab him in his sleep though.

"You know, brat, you cannot literally kill me with your eyes, no matter how fiercely you glare at me." He laughed then, a teasing laugh. A victor's laugh. Finally he let go of my wrist, sat back, and said, as calmly as if he hadn't handed me an ice cold lecture a moment earlier, "Would you like to try decoding the lock again?"

What I wanted, was to get out of this room, to retreat to a private space, away from the coldness, the teasing. But it was still early and I had a feeling I would not be permitted to lick my wounds. Nor did I want him to think I was broken. He'd had my agreement because his logic made sense, and only because of that. Resolutely, I turned my back on him and got to work on the lock. "If you distract me again, I'm strangling you with this chain."

Hey, it worked on Jabba the Hut.

"Duly noted." Once again I got to work on trying to decode the tumblers.

"Was Kyubei very angry with you when he found you?" Like every hairstylist ever, Sho asked the question while my head was partially submerged in a large kettle of water, so I could only guess at the exact contents.

I closed my eyes while a ladle of warm water poured over my head. "You could say that." His hot and cold anger and my conflicted response to it had kept me awake most of the night. Only now, in the comforting warmth of the water, did I feel like my pulse was finally returning to normal. It wasn't until I stepped into a large yukata that Sho held open for me, that it occurred to me that she too might have had to face his anger. "What about you? Did he find you on the docks?"

"He seemed concerned about your safety. After I told him where you were, he just walked me home and told me to come back here tomorrow early. Er today, I guess." She continued to chatter happily about her excursion, and I kept one ear open to any mention of Shojumaru. Which means I got to hear many compliments on his strong physique and his attractive looks.

"Does he have ships of his own, or just warehouses?" Hopefully, that didn't come across as too much of a non sequitar.

"Hiko has mentioned being on board Shojumaru's ship, so I guess he has one." She pouted a bit about her brother getting a treat she was denied, but didn't elaborate. Either she wasn't in on this secret, or she was a better spy than she appeared to be. In case it was the latter, I didn't press.

"I suppose I can ask him tonight - he's supposed to be at this banquet. I hate going to places when I don't know what I'm going to talk about with people." de Sousa's little invite to dine had morphed into a large banquet. Apparently he wished to show off how things were done in Portugal.

"What do western ladies wear, do you know?" As usual, her interest was more in fashion than helping me figure out whatever the manners would be necessary at this shindig.

"I don't know really." All I knew about European fashion of this time had come from television, and I had never been enough of a fan of costume dramas, especially Western ones, to seek any out. "Maybe a lot of heavy clothes?" Corsets. Oh thank god I didn't time travel to an era with corsets. The breast flattener I wore as Katsu was painful enough. "Or, I don't know. Heavy fabric, but not the number of layers that court ladies wear here."

"Hmph. It must be cold over there." she began combing the water out of my hair, blotting and squeezing out the moisture as she went. "Maybe if I braid it while it's still wet, there would be a nice bit of curl by tonight?"

"Whatever you think best. You are the expert here." I did have a slight natural wave to my hair, but only when it was layered to take the weight out. "Did Kyubei express any preferences?"

"Oh, you want to please him? Do you like him now? I wasn't certain myself when I first met him, but he was very kind to me yesterday." She hummed a little bit as she looked through my clothing. The seamstress had come through with several delicately feminine kimonos. None were exactly to my taste - too pale, too much embroidery... but from a certain point of view, they were pretty.

"He's got his moments." Most of which inspired homicidal thoughts in me, but if I stepped back from my emotions (usually an easier task, but... details) I thought I understood the reasoning behind his behavior. He was worried about his friends, and everything was in service to that mission. I had to admit such loyalty was admirable, even when his modus operandi consisted of coldly given orders alternating with irritating teasing. Figures that he saved whatever kindness he had for Sho. "Oh. The green, I suppose." She'd been holding out two kimonos for me to choose between - a pink with a pattern of deeper pink blossoms, or a green with willow trees and cranes.

"An excellent choice." Mitsuhide stood in the door. Oh crap, had he been listening? I double checked that my yukata was securely tied, while Sho greeted him with a bow. He strolled into the room, as calmly as if we hadn't spent last night fighting - for that was truly what it had been - a fight for control of territory.

Unfortunately I had been the territory, and I had lost the battle.

He handed me a narrow packet wrapped in festive, tissue thin rice paper. "A present for my dear Kaya. I believe you'll find they match your outfit. Please wear them."

And then, probably because Sho was watching (in fact she had her hand to her heart at the so called romance of it all), he bowed low over my hand, and pressed a European style kiss to the back of it. His lips were cool, his breath was warm, and the back of my hand tingled at the sensation. Why was 'Kyubei' was suddenly being so nice to Kaya, when his original character had been presented as abusive? Maybe the act was for Sho's benefit. I would have to ask him later tonight.

"Aren't you going to open it?" Sho peered anxiously over my shoulder, seeming more excited about the gift than I was.

"Oh. Yes. Of course." Though the width it fit easily in my palm, the packet had a bit of heft to it. I lifted it to my ear, shook it gently and heard a very faint metallic clink. I mulled that over for a moment, until I looked up and saw that Mitsuhide looked amused.

You don't need to turn this into a puzzle, his expression seemed to say.

I suppose not.

I unfolded the paper and pulled a trio of silver hair sticks out of the packet. They were decorated on one end with tiny sprays of white bellflowers (whch would probably tickle the tops of my ears when the sticks were inserted into my hair). Was this Mitsuhide's way to make sure I would think about him and my mission at all time? He never did anything without an ulterior motive.

"So pretty, and they will easily match everything you own." Sho reached out with one finger to poke at the dangling flowers.

"Yes, I'm aware of Kaya's wardrobe." He experimentally laid one next to my head. "An attractive and effective way to keep my lady's wayward hair in place. It does rather have a habit of escaping."

Though of course the meaning of that went over Sho's head, I expected Mitsuhide intended that as a warning. Then again... I tested the weight and sharpness of the sticks. They were pretty solid. Solid enough to pierce flesh. I might even be able to stab him with one. Nor would these break if I ever tried to unlo-

At that moment, it hit me what these were. Heavier and sharper than a normal hair stick. He'd... gotten me my own set of lock picks.

Coolest gift ever.

Decorative, deadly, and capable of opening locks. He'd pretty much hit it out of the park on the gift-giving game. "This," I emphasized are pointy end, "could come in super handy. Thank you Master Kyubei."

He tapped on my lips with his finger and any calmness I had been able to achieve that morning suddenly fled at his touch. "No need to thank me. Your smile is enough." And with a bow, he was gone, leaving Sho giggling in his wake… and yes, I supposed I was indeed smiling.