Within another day, we'd arrived back in Sakai, although only Mitsuhide and I disembarked (Kyubei had taken a faster route by hitching a ride with the Oda atakebune). The others planned to sail further north to Osaka, then travel to Azuchi over land. While Mitsuhide received last minute instructions from Nobunaga… and last minute goodbye hugs from Mai, I made myself useful by checking that our supplies were ready to be transferred off the ship.

Though Mitsuhide hadn't specifically stated what we were returning for, I expected we still had to deal with de Sousa, and for that matter, it wasn't completely out of the question that 'Shojumaru' would reappear and brazen it out. After all, he was fairly well established and—

Toshiie?

After seven years, it's possible that my brother would have been changed out of recognition. And maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, for the man I had spotted rounding a corner from the dock had only been in my field of vision for a moment. But many times, a moment is enough.

His hair was much longer.

His walk was the same.

Abandoning our luggage as well as all sense of self preservation, I zoomed down the gangplank and sprinted after the man – my brother - pushing past sailors and merchants in my haste. Toshiie hadn't seen me, and when I rounded the corner into the main street, it took me a moment to find him again. He was striding toward the main market area with a sense of purpose.

Even though it was a futile act, I yelled after him. "Toshiie!"

The man didn't turn around. But he probably hadn't heard me yell over the throng of people out on this bright afternoon.

Luckily I had always been faster than he was, and I increased my pace, bobbing and weaving around the slowly meandering shoppers, until I reached the intersection of the outdoor market and the shopping district, and skidded to a halt, turning several times to reorient myself.

He was gone.

I stood there for a moment trying to guess his most likely direction. Had he gone into the spice merchant's shop? The ceramics warehouse? Maybe he was visiting the Chinese herbalist or, had he not gone into a building at all? Had he continued on to a residential area?

"Is it beyond your ability to stay in one place for any amount of time longer than a heartbeat?" Mitsuhide's arm locked around my shoulders as he all but propelled me out of the market.

"But I thought I saw- " Oh what was the point? Toshiie, if that had been he, was long gone, and I, as Katsu, was out and about in daylight. Not in my Kaya disguise, which, from the speed Mitsuhide was pulling me into the shadows, was apparently still in play.

"Who or what did you see, Brat?" Left unsaid again was an implied that was so important you took off without telling me. "Did Motonari make his way back already?"

My brother.

I didn't say it loud enough for Mitsuhide to hear. Again. What did it matter now? The further away we got from the market, the less certain I was that I had even seen him. "No. I thought I saw someone from years ago. But now... I don't know."

"The man who tried to kill you? Iekane?" If possible, Mitsuhide's glower became fiercer. "Or… Akihira?"

I shook my head. "No. Someone who's been missing for a lot longer… so… Probably just in my imagination."

Mitsuhide glanced over his shoulder toward the market, where the late day crowds were dispersing while merchants packed up their stalls. Impossible to tell what he'd thought of my claim. "Come along, we've much to do."

He didn't further enlighten me, and stuck by a sudden exhaustion, I could only follow along mutely. In awkward silence, we returned to the building that had been our so called 'love nest' for the better part of the last few weeks. It was almost a comfort to be somewhere familiar. Home at last.

Unsure of where to go, in fact without any energy to even climb up to the second floor, I sat on the staircase and waited idly as Mitsuhide and Kyubei, who had easily beaten us home, huddled over a stack of reports that had arrived while we were gone. Only little bits of conversation drifted over to me, not enough to make sense. But whatever Mitsuhide's spies had discovered was enough to make both men frown in concern.

After receiving low-voice instructions, Kyubei nodded and pulled his long hair up into a tight knot on his head. He was as much a master of disguise as Mitsuhide. They both could fully inhabit a new character with just a few alterations to hair and clotting. Dressed as he was in a somber blue, and carrying a prayer staff, Kyubei could be mistaken as a wandering monk – which, I imagine was in fact the point. He bowed to us both, piously, and slipped out the door.

Once Kyubei had set off, Mitsuhide and I were alone again. He glanced at the stairs, where I had been parked since we'd arrived. One eyebrow went up. "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."

He loomed over me, staring. Which only made sense, given I was blocking his way to the second floor.

"May I have Aki's letter now?" It was only one of a lot of things I would like to ask him, but it was also the one I had the most chance of getting.

"Noticed it's no longer in the box, did you?" He didn't move from his spot. Still looming. For such a lithe, elegant man, he practiced the art of looming quite well.

"I know you took it with you when you went to Azuchi." I'm sure he was aware I had searched his room while he was gone. "After that… it was less noticing and more of a logical assumption." I shrugged. "I would have moved it."

"If we're going to be making demands…" He was back to the royal we again. "Would it not make more sense to have this conversation in the living area? You can't be comfortable like that."

The stair was digging into my back, true. But going upstairs, the location of so many of our experiences over the past few months, seemed like the fastest way to throw us back into a pattern of disagreements and negotiation.

Then again, at least he would not be looming.

I got up and turned toward the second floor.

"You're not heading for your doom." His voice was almost in my ear. "You may cease walking like a prisoner on their way to her execution any time now."

That wasn't worthy of a response. Anything I said could and would be used against me.

Once we were settled in Mitsuhide's more personal office space, this time with a cup of tea that he'd pretty much pressed into my hands, Mitsuhide shifted into a leisurely stance, one that suggested he was completely confident of the outcome of future negotiations, and said, "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."

Ah. I knew we'd be getting to this sooner or later. I'd figured he'd confront me again while we were onboard the Oda ship, but he'd been too busy. Or maybe, he had, like a parental figure, left me to think about what I had done.

Cupping both hands around my tea, I borrowed its warmth, hoping that it would give me courage to endure the discussion – a discussion that loomed just as much as Mitsuhide had done on the stairs. "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?" He sounded skeptical, though I don't know why. Mai was sweet, sure, but she was more than willing to deal with danger if necessary.

"She hit him with a bucket then garrotted him with the chain. Well not permanently. I expect he'll have a sore throat for a while, but he should have survived." I took him through the thoughts that had led me to the conclusion that I needed to help her out.

For a long time, Mitsuhide was quiet. "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." He swirled the tea around in his cup. "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 shook his head. "I'm not sure what to do with you."

Why did he have to do anything? Our charade ought to be ending soon. When, or if, Motonari returned to Sakai, he already knew who we were. In fact he could have communicated this information to the other merchants of Sakai already. What was the point of continuing this way?

I hated to admit it, but the only clue I had to Aki's location was the fact the Iekane had been involved in the theft of the weapons. Even that was tenuous, which was why…"Aki's letter? Please?" If I could finish reading it, I might have a better idea of where he could have gone. Francisco had said the letter was written years ago, but that didn't negate the possibility that it would have a clue to his current location. Though if it was not a where but a when, I could probably dissolve this partnership. No matter what Mitsuhide promised me, I couldn't expect him to follow me through space and time.

"It's under my futon mattress." He smirked at me. "Had you ever opened up renegotiations, I expect you would have discovered it naturally, as it does tend to crackle when I lie down on it."

Ignoring the tease (although it was kind of a relief that he was indeed teasing me again), I got to my feet. "Under your mattress? That's the most-"

"Obvious location.'' A sip of tea, very likely for dramatic effect. "And yet you failed to look there."

Well. I had looked there the first time I searched. I just hadn't looked there again after finding the puzzle box, figuring that he had another such box somewhere. "May I go get?"

"Again, I find myself incredulous that you're finally located your manners. I was under the impression that you would simply take it." The cool tones, so arrogant in his thought that he'd figured me out.

"Well I would if you weren't home, but it did feel a little rude, I suppose, when you were sitting right here." I shrugged. "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?" Two can play this 'I've figured you out' game, Sir.

He stared. Then his lips quivered before giving way to a full on belly laugh. "Go. Go." Between spasms of laughter he waved his hand toward his room.

I went. His laughter followed me down the corridors.

The room smelled thickly of cinnamon and sandalwood, and more scent arose as I lifted up the mattress to find my father's letter. It was as neatly folded as the last time I had seen it, though I was sure he had again tried to decode it, especially once I had given him some of the key. I was confident though, he hadn't solved it all yet. There hadn't been a chance to do so before we'd been captured by Motonari, and if he'd indeed learned of the time travel, I couldn't imagine that he wouldn't have asked me about it. Still…

I unfolded it to confirm that it was the correct letter, and with all the pages intact. Then, I spent a moment smoothing out the sheets on the futon. It again seemed only polite, and I figured Mitsuhide to be someone who preferred a neat bed at night.

Cinnamon and sandalwood. The smell had become comforting. Familiar. Before standing up again, I leaned over, and took a long whiff.

When I turned, Mitsuhide was leaning in the doorframe. The smirk had returned to his face.

Kill me now.

Eyebrow up.

I braced myself.

"I'm beginning to suspect you are indeed interested in renegotiation." And the smug was back in his voice. Smirk. Eyebrow. Smug. The hat trick of things I hate about Mitsuhide. "Perhaps as a way to say goodbye to our sweet love nest before we go back to Azuchi tomorrow."

"Don't flatter yours- tomorrow?" But- "What about Aki?" I knew he was planning to return to Azuchi, but I thought we'd have a couple more days here. More time to get a lead on Iekane. More time… with Mitushide.

"I haven't reneged on our original contract." He didn't move from his post at the door.

When Toshiie had at last moved out of our mother's apartment, his roommate had two cats that did not get along. One would menace the other in the hall en route to the litter box. The cat didn't actually attack the other cat… it just watched. And watched. It so unnerved the other cat that she peed in Toshiie's bed.

Not that I would ever pee in Mitsuhide's bed.

Just sayin.

"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." He smiled at me as if to say, 'look, I'm sharing the plan this time.'

He wasn't completely wrong. I had been thinking that Sakai was about played out. But I didn't see myself making any progress in Azuchi either. "What are we doing here then?"

"Packing." He took a step into the room, "Or, if you're interested – renegotiating."

"Are you asking?" He'd originally been the one, long ago, to claim that I would someday beg him. I wondered if he remembered that.

"No." He gave a light tug on my hair. Almost the way a teasing boy would do to a girl in school. "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." He tapped my nose once, twice, before resting one finger on my lip.

I stepped back. I had a letter to read. "I have a letter to read."

He made a grand gesture toward the hallway. "I'm not stopping you."

No. He wasn't. He was just teasing me.

I have a letter to read.

I scooted past him, making sure to walk at a normal pace. I didn't look back, because if I did, I'm sure I would find him smirking at me. It wasn't until I slid my own door closed that I allowed myself a deep breath.

My heart was beating so loudly I wouldn't be surprised if he could hear it too.

I am suggesting an activity that it believe we would both enjoy.

He's right. We would both enjoy ourselves. I wasn't opposed to the idea. I was opposed to giving my heart to someone who clearly loved someone else.

He... already has my heart.

Mai's words came back to me. "He only teases when he really means it." Maybe? Maybe I meant something to him, after all?

But to turn around and walk back down that hall. To knock on his door. Could I take all those steps?

You're leaving anyway. Wouldn't it be nice to have the memory of the enjoyable activity?

Or… would that just make it worse?

Well. Maybe I would just open my own door.

I could make additional decisions once after that point.

I opened my door.

Mitsuhide, his pose as casual as ever, leaned against the wall directly across from me.

I hate him.

"I'm just getting a drink of water.''

"Were you?"

If he says one snarky thing, I'm slamming the door in his face.

Doors don't slam here, but… details. I will forcefully slide the door shut in his face.

He had no words. There was no teasing, no snark, not even that knowing smile.

All he did was reach out his hand.

Quick note from the writer... is anyone still reading on this site? The stats section has been broken since September, and I have no idea if people are reading this story here? No need to leave a review, but could you hit me up with a quick note to let me know whether fanfic net is still a viable posting site.