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the12thnightproject · 23 days

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Chapter 21: Exuent, Pursued by a Bear? - Okatsu’s reunion with her brother and Sasuke is postponed as they all prepare their attacks on Iekane’s army. Mitsunari heads out on a dangerous mission.

Mitsunari x OC; Nobunaga x Mai

Previous Chapter

Logline - In order to protect a political alliance, Katusko and Mitsunari must pretend an engagement. But this “all business” arrangement is threatened by a coup against Nobunaga… and by feelings.

From the Military Notes of Ishida Mitsunari…

Personal comments: I am no longer able to continue researching military theory, as events have conspired to throw us all into the middle of a military operation. Assets: One scout/archer; one Princess/archer; one ninja of self-described ‘moderately awesome’ abilities; one healer; and one small boy. Assets promised, not yet acquired: twenty vassals; a dozen servants; an unknown number of women archers.

Missing asset: Lord Mitsuhide.

Opposition: Upwards of three hundred men – some of whom may be paid mercenaries.

Mission: Prevent above three hundred men from overrunning Genba castle and killing Lord Nobunaga.

Keep Okatsu alive.

Kissing Okatsu should not be on this list, as it is no longer a priority.

Kiss Okatsu.

Was I still asleep and dreaming? Was I dreaming that both Sasuke and Toshiie were here? No, because right before my brother yanked me into a hug too tight to be a dream, I saw Sasuke and Mitsunari standing behind him.

Toshiie’s hands were strong on my back, and he babbled nearly incoherently. "Katsuko. Oh God, I'm sorry. They told me you were dead. I swear, I never would have stopped looking if I'd known. I never would have gone back. I’m sorry. I should have protected you."

Dead? Me? I mean, even when I was locked in the crate, I hadn’t reached the point of ‘mostly-dead.’

His words didn't make sense, but did it matter right now? His hair was shorter, he looked a little thinner, there were new lines in his face, he wore a different pair of glasses ... but it was Toshiie "Sh. It’s ok. You found me... or did Sasuke find you?" Where had he been all these years? How had Sasuke found him?

I double checked to make sure that Mitsunari was out of earshot. Ok, he and Sasuke had politely withdrawn to give Toshiie and I privacy for our reunion. Further beyond them, Hikosane and Shohime were busy -- were they making ground spikes? In any case they were all far enough away to not overhear Toshie and my conversation.

"Actually, I found Sasuke in modern Kyoto. Katsuko, I was only in this era for a few months. The same wormhole that brought us here, sent me back to modern Japan almost seven years ago." He put his head in his hands. “I thought you were dead. The bandits said you were eaten by a bear."

"A bear? What?" I clapped my hand over my mouth to prevent laughing in his face. But seriously. I had encountered one or two bears in my time here and they never showed any interest in eating me. If Toshiie had spent more time here, he would know the bears were shy of people, "Never mind. Go on, I always thought you were on a ship of some kind. Guess that was as wrong as the bear."

“That’s right. I was on a ship. We'd been at sea about six weeks," he made a face (Toshiie always had had terrible motion sickness), "when we sailed into a storm. And I could tell it was the same kind of storm that brought us here. That fog bank moved right off the port side, and while they were all dealing with the storm, I dove right into it."

"Wow. That was…" Stupid. He could have drowned. "Brave."

"The next thing I knew, I was back at Togakushi, alone, in the middle of winter. I was messed up for a while.” He paused and looked down at the ground. In my family, the three of us had never used words like “depressed” or “anxious.” Even though psychology courses were required for his studies, Toshiie had nearly always avoided talking about mental health with me (well, until the day that we’d ended up sucked into the wormhole). So for him to even use ‘messed up?’ Things had been bad for him. “Anyway, eventually, I pulled myself together and went back to school." He lifted up a medical bag that looked far too anachronistic to my eyes.

"Look at you. Are you a doctor now?" It was hard to take in. While I'd had a life here, Toshiie had - eventually - picked up where he left off. It felt jarring, like we were two pieces of a puzzle that looked like they would fit but didn't.

"Not yet. Close. I have another year of residency." He glanced at Sasuke. "A couple weeks ago, I saw an announcement for a lecture about time travel. Since I've never had anyone to talk to about it, I went, and that’s where I met Sasuke. After he was done talking, I followed him out of the lecture hall, and said, you're not going to believe this, but what you described happened to me. We went out for a drink, and I told him everything.”

Sasuke and Mitsunari had made their way over in time to hear the last bit of Toshiie’s story. "And I told him, I do believe you... and I know your sister. She's not dead. I had already been making plans to return to-" He sideeyed Mitsunari. "To this part of the county."

"To this era. You may say that. I am aware Okatsu is a time traveler." Mitsunari spoke as casually as if he were offering tea.

He knows?

I must have looked stunned, for Mitsunari patted my arm before continuing. "I was already aware that Mai is from the future as she mentioned it on the day she arrived, and after observing her actions for a few days, I concluded she had not been lying. As you once noted you are from the same place as Mai, the logical conclusion was that you are also from the future. Since you did not mention it to me, I presumed you did not wish to discuss it." The words were mild, but his tone sounded hurt.

"I never mention it to anyone. Even Aki, who I've worked for for many years, doesn't know." Then because I wanted to give Mitsunari something of myself, a truth he could hold onto, I added, "My name actually is Katsuko. Mitsuhide changed it when he made me a princess." I put the word ‘princess’ in air quotes, although probably he wouldn’t understand the gesture.

That dazzling smile came out. "Katsuko." It sounded like he was tasting the name on his tongue. “Katsuko,” he repeated, and coming from his mouth it sounded like a song. "It is a pretty name. It suits you." Then he sighed. “I am terrible at remembering names though. I apologize in advance if I forget and call you Okatsu.”

For the sake of our charade, he likely should continue to call me Okatsu anyway, but it was nice to know that I was no longer lying to him about one thing.

Toshiie gave him a ‘back-off dude,’ big brother type look, then picked up the story. "Sasuke has a friend who is very ill, so he asked if I would also come along to-”

"- Where I work," Sasuke jumped in very quickly. Yeah, it wouldn’t be a good idea to advertise to an Oda that you worked for-.

"I'm also aware you work for Uesugi Kenshin. Do not censor yourself on my account." Mitsunari calmly sat with his hands resting on his knees as if he was doing nothing more than discussing the best brand of tea, instead of chatting with an enemy.

"Er. Alright then." Sasuke pushed glasses further up nose. "In any case, as Toshiie and I came through a wormhole at Honno-ji, it was simple enough to detour to Genba, but Mitsunari has briefed me on your current situation, and clearly it's not that simple."

"You'll help us though." It wasn't question. I knew he would do that for Mai. And I suppose given that he also was aware of Japan's future, it was vital that unification happened.

Sasuke nodded. "Mitsunari has been discussing strategy with me." He began pulling all manner of ninja tools out of his pack. "I understand we'd be practicing guerilla tactics to carry out attacks on the enemy until reinforcements arrive."

Finally, Mitsunari looked confused. "Gorillas... we need monkeys?"

"Um... it's just another word for Ewok." I didn’t know why it was called guerilla. I’d probably skipped school that day.

"Ewoks!" Sasuke looked at me. "If I had known you were also a time traveler earlier. I imagine we would have had some fascinating conversations."

Now it was Mitsunari's turn for that 'back off' look, and he directed it at Sasuke. However, he continued in a pleasant tone of voice. "Now is not the time for that. Okatsu, Katsuko.” He sighed. "As I said. I am not very good at remembering names.”

"Might as well leave it at Okatsu so as not to confuse anyone." We really didn’t have time to keep explaining a name change to Hikosan, Shohime and the Kanamori vassals.

Susumu had rounded up thirty-five vassals and servants, an additional six women archers, and all the spare weapons and ammunition he could find. Once everyone had gathered in our camp, Mitsunari outlined his plans. "I intend to split us in three groups." Susumu, you and I will take the largest force and to capture as many of their supplies as possible." He used a stick to draw out the military formations in the dirt. "We’ll isolate and outflank the supply chain here."

"Okatsu, you are to lead the archers, with Shohime and Hikosane to the top of the northermost signal tower. There you are to defend our rear guard and the-” he nodded at Toshiie, "medical facility for the injured."

“Hang on! I’m not part of this fight. I came back for my sister and nothing else. Sasuke promised he could get us home.” Toshiie tugged on my arm. “I couldn’t help you before, but I’m here now.”

This… was not the brother I remembered. What had happened to him? And while on an intellectual level, I knew that Toshiie hadn’t undergone the seven years of survival training I’d been through, but even without that, did he really think I’d abandon my friends now? “If you really want to help, then listen to Mitsunari.”

Toshiie turned to Mitsunari… and said, “Look, I didn’t go through all this just to watch my sister get killed. She’s impulsive. She’s unreliable. She’s-”

“Standing right next to you.” I elbowed him in the ribs. “I can speak for myself, and I’m not going anywhere until this is over.” One way or another.

With a calming hand, Sasuke patted Toshiie on the back. “I will get you and your sister home, but we can’t leave until Nobunaga is safe, or there may not be a home to return to.” Given all these witnesses, Sasuke couldn’t bring up quantum theory and temporal paradox, but the unspoken message was clear.

Although he clearly didn’t like it, Toshiie grudgingly accepted Sasuke’s statement. “Fine. As long as I’m stuck here, I will provide medical care to my best ability. Under these conditions.” That last part was muttered under his breath.

Calmly, as if Toshiie hadn’t been possessed by the spirit of Debbie Downer, Mitsunari continued his instructions. "Sasuke believes he can find a way into Genba castle and potentially sneak Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, Mai… and Mozumi out. But if he cannot, he will at least be able to return with valuable information about guards and troop movement.”

His expression serious (although his expression always was serious), Sasuke saluted him and nodded.

"Based on how much Susumu’s forces can obtain or destroy, and what Sasuke learns," Mitsunari continued, "We will refine and move on to phase two of the plan."

All that was great and all... but I was a bit... peeved... that I was going to be stuck on top of a tower. Not that I would say anything to Mitsunari in front of anyone else (unlike my brother I understood the military chain of command… and unlike my brother I also had manners). Instead, I waited until everyone dispersed and Mitsunari finished relaying instructions to Sasuke, before approaching. "Lord Mitsunari." I bowed.

"Okatsu there's no need for formality.” Then he looked at me for a moment before frowning. "You... are upset?"

"Are you trying to protect me by putting me in beacon tower?" I thought I had proved my worth by now.

"I see. No. That isn't it. I want archers on top of that tower, and you are the best archer I know." Then, even though no one was looking, he took my hands in his. Instantly at his touch, I felt calmer. Mitsunari always could soothe the noise in my head. "I was treating you as a warrior and placing you where you are needed."

"Oh. Alright then. Thank-you." I paused, then withdrew my hands from his, feeling the cold as I did so.

The beacon towers were part of a network of towers that Takeda Shingen had built all through the territory when it was his. Since the primary function was to send smoke signals from tower to tower, the structures were crude, mostly open to the elements, wider on the ground floor, and tapering upward to the beacon level. The one we planned to use had been abandoned for months, although to be certain, we had one of Susumu's men with us (the Redshirt), to check things out.

On the ground level, Toshiie set up the ‘medical tent,’ in one corner, grumbling all the while about medieval medicine.

"I realize you’re being sarcastic, but this literally is medieval Japan," I reminded him, as Shohime, our girl-power archery corps, and I prepared to climb onto the higher level to set up the defenses. "You don't hear me grumbling about the lack of binoculars, do you?"

Toshiro reached into his pack and handed me a set of binoculars.

"Wow. Really?" Not taking a gift anachronism in the mouth, but… "Does Sasuke know you brought those?"

Tosh shrugged. "We weren't planning to be here that long. Just get you, help his friend, and hop the next wormhole out of here." He kicked at the dirt and leaves that littered the ground since the tower’s sides were partially open to the elements.

"Too bad you couldn't sneak a handheld vacuum huh?" I broke off a branch of a nearby tree, then flipped it leaf side down. "Here, Macguver this into a broom."

Tosh rolled his eyes (and to think I missed his sarcasm?) but grabbed the branch and got to work.

I joined the others on top of the tower, they were milling around and it took me a moment to realize that they were waiting for me to tell them what to do. Mitsunari had effectively made me commander of this team. I looked them over.

Though a couple women were around my age, there was one who had to be at least a grandmother, if not a great grandmother. Shohime went right over to the woman and hugged her. The woman whispered something in her ear, and Shohime laughed before turning to me. “Lady Okatsu, this is Ushi. She used to work in Genba castle and she taught me everything I know about archery.”

Well, that was good information that I hoped I’d know what to do with. I'd never been in charge before. It looked like I would need to rely on Shohime, whose transformation from airhead to semi-capable warrior had left my head spinning.

Alright. Speech time. Hopefully I would not suddenly develop stage fright. "If our luck holds, and of course we can't count on luck, we can remain undetected until Susumu and Mitsunari launch their raid. But as I said we can't count on luck. We'll start with four people, one keeping watch over each direction.” The top of the tower was only about four square meters, narrowing from the larger room below, so even though we all faced different directions, we would be able help to each other.

“Four up here watching. Two asleep. Two guarding and helping medical. We'll rotate in shifts every quarter watch." Given Shohime’s recommendation, I put Ushi in charge of the other shift, then sent them back to the main floor, telling them to determine for themselves who would sleep first. And… feeling like I ought to add some kind of inspiring words to fire them up, I said, “And… um, clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.”

After the other shift retreated to the base of the tower, all was quiet. I sneakily used the binoculars to see if I could get a sense of what was happening at the castle, but these glasses had been meant for bird watching, and I couldn't see close enough for details.

"Shohime, how long have you been pretending to be..." I bit back the word 'stupid,' as I didn't want to insult her.

She understood what I meant. "Since I was eight. I saw Lady Yone about to smother Hikosane with a cushion! He was just a baby! I interrupted her and asked her to help with a dance I had been learning. It was easier protect Hikosane if she thought I was an idiot."

"I take it Lady Yone was pregnant with one of your sisters at the time?" Though Japan didn’t really follow the western tradition of primogeniture, Genba Castle's domain was on the small and poor side, especially before the silver mines had been discovered. Yone would not have wanted an unborn son to divide his inheritance with Hikosane.

"Yes." Shohine's shoulders slumped. "She steps up the efforts every time she is pregnant. Although this-" she gestured vaguely around the forest. "Was not something. I expected."

"I imagine Iekane helped her come up with this.... or maybe they found each other." I didn't want to discount the intelligence of another woman, especially, after misjudging Shohime. "Are your feelings for Mitsunari part of whatever it was you were doing to protect Hikosane?"

If she was sincere in her feelings, then maybe after this was over, after I went home, she and Mitsunari would get together after all. She'd shown herself to be resourceful and smart, although clearly she needed more education to be able to take advantage of that raw intelligence.

"How could anyone not love Mitsunari?" Shohime had a fond smile on her face. "He's smart and sweet and beautiful."

True, he was all of that and more. He would be very easy to love…

…if I weren’t catching the next wormhole out of town.

I must have looked upset or something, because Shohime leaned over and touched my arm. "But don’t worry Okatsu. No matter how I feel about him, it's obvious that the two of you are perfect for one another. Please don't worry that I will try to come between you."

At the moment, I was more worried about Mitsunari getting back from his mission with Susumu. They’d been gone a while… too long? I hadn’t been paying enough attention to the position of the sun to estimate how much time had passed. Something rustled in the trees below, and I took a moment to track and find it through the binoculars. It was just a rabbit. A regular rabbit, I presumed, and not a monster out of the imagination of Monty Python. “What about the poisoned tea? Lord Mitsuhide said you could have killed us all."

"I was afraid that Lady Yone was having me watched… that page that always follows me came to the castle in her entourage.” Oh. Huh. I had wondered why she hadn’t brought that seemingly loyal page with her when she ‘ran away.’ “So, I had to at least pick the flowers. But if the stable – er, Lord Aketchi had not already stopped me, I would have switched it out before I gave it to you - or to us, since I believe I was the intended victim. She wants Iekane to herself."

"Ugh. She can have him." I was years away from the naïve girl who had once found Iekane’s smile attractive.

"With a ribbon.'' Shohime and I smiled in a moment of simpatico. "Lord Aketchi said what I ended up giving you truly was a love potion. I suppose it was simply something like water?"

I shrugged. "With Mitsuhide, anything is possible. He might have truly handed you a temporary love potion because it amused him to do so."

"Interesting. Lord Aketchi sounds like a fascinating man. I imagine I could learn a great deal from him." There was a look on her face that made me suspect she might be willing to see him as a romantic prospect, but all jokes aside, I thought the age difference between the two was too great. Besides, I did not want anyone to get in the way of the great enemies-to-lovers romance that was Mitsuhide and Hideyoshi.

Any further conversation in this vein was interrupted by the sound of footsteps on the ladder, as Toshiie and Hikosane climbed onto the observation platform.

"It's as clean as it is going to get,'' Toshiie dusted his hands on his hakima. "Though in an ideal world we won't have any wounded anyway."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, there was a muffled sound of gunshots, carried through the clear afternoon air.

Oh God. Mitsunari. That’s where he was. What if he’d been shot?

The gunshots were followed by a-

BOOM.

-that rattled the tower in its intensity.

My breath caught in my lungs as a plume of smoke rose over the trees above a dark orange glow.

BOOM.

@lorei-writes @bestbryn @katriniac @lyds323 @briars7

#TBTMND #A mitsunari night's dream #ikemen sengoku #fanfic #ikesen #mitsunari ishida #ikesen mitsunari #ikesen sasuke #fanfiction #oc Katsuko #katsuverse

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the12thnightproject · 9 months

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Chapter 34: Turn the Page. An impatient Katsu discovers that Yoshimoto travels at his own pace - but maybe he has the correct idea?

Mitsuhide x OC; Hideyoshi x MC (Mai)

All Chapters Archived on Ao3

Logline - With Mai, Hideyoshi, and Aki missing, Mitsuhide and Katsuko reluctantly team up. Disguised as a merchant and his concubine, can they outsmart the man known as the God of Deceit?

Travel with Yoshimoto? I could probably get anywhere faster and less conspicuously without an escort, but in spite of his ambivalent manner, his knowledge of the politics involved would be worth having. Not to mention there was always the possibility that Yoshimoto wouldn’t give up the location of Yoshiaki’s hideout unless I agreed to go with him. “Thank you.”

He cast a critical eye over my clothes. He didn’t visibily flinch at my ‘Katsu’ drag, but he was clearly unimpressed. “Dare I hope that you still have the clothing Mitsuhide provided?"

"No." I didn’t mention the turquoise yukata. That wasn’t what I imagined Yoshimoto meant. "I've abandoned the Kaya identity completely."

"Pity. It would be most believable to Yoshiaki if I brought along a concubine." He tapped his fingers on the table. "Stand up, if you will."

Wondering what he had in mind, I obeyed the polite request. Yoshimoto got to his feet as well, and stood next to me, "You'll travel as my page, although I'll have to procure a suitable outfit. My own clothes would be far too long for you."

Had it been Mitsuhide who made such a statement, I would have protested that I wasn't too small, it was he who was too tall, but Yoshimoto had a way of making everything seem like a compliment. He thought a moment longer then added, "I have a relative whose castle will be on our route. I imagine we might find something suitable there, for you will certainly need warmer outfits for the mountains. Her son’s clothes will likely fit you."

Right. If Yoshiaki was in mining country, as the context of Iekane’s letter suggested, it would be colder there. Maybe not as cold as the Togakushi area where I was from, but cold enough to need heavy outerwear. "Thank you. My winter gear is back at my master’s home."

When Aki had first disappeared, it had been the last of summer. I had never expected the search to take me into late autumn. And yet… here I was, following a path that hopefully would not be another dead end. That morbid thought reminded me that I needed to make arrangements for Hiko tonight too.

Yoshimoto reached out and tested the thickness of my kimono. "Perhaps we'll encounter traders on the route. They might have some pelts they are taking to the export merchants." Huh. That suggested it was really cold where we were going (or that Yoshimoto just wanted an excuse to go for shopping). He knelt at his writing desk and jotted down a few notes. "Do you also need a horse?"

"No. Mine is already stabled in town and she's a surefooted mountain pony." A bad tempered one, true, but we'd be more likely to see snow instead of rain, so hopefully she'd cope.

“Ah, you might be better situated in that regard than I am.” Yoshimoto folded up the letter, and set it aside. “I’ll have one of Shingen’s spies take this to my cousin tomorrow.”

Hm – I hadn’t realized that the Takeda spy network reached as far south as Sakai. But that did present a solution to one of my other problems. “Do you have easy access to the mitsumono then? Because Sho’s younger brother is in danger, and it would be a good idea to have someone watching over him.”

“How much danger?” He looked at me steadily, perhaps reassessing what he’d just gotten himself into.

“Life threatening.” While I didn’t think Iekane was currently in Sakai (because if he were, why would he send a message to de Sousa instead of just talking face to face) he probably had access to assassins.

Yoshomoto reopened the letter and scrawled a few more lines. “To be safe, I can have him taken to Kasugayama until he’s out of danger.” He muttered something about Kenshin needing a hobby.

“If you could make that happen, that’s probably the best possible solution.” Iekane would have to be crazy to attack Kasugayama. Kenshin’s reputation as a fighter was infamous.

“A good idea will waft through my mind on occasion.” He hesitated a moment, then added, “Very rare occasions.” Before I could dispute that, he continued. “Right then. Another good idea is that we should sleep. You shall take my bed.”

"I can't kick you out of your bed." I’d broken into his room – it would be impolite to also steal his bed. For that matter, I couldn't imagine him sleeping on the floor.

"If you're that concerned for my comfort, we could share." The look he gave me was enough to convince me that a) it would not be platonic, b) he was not teasing, and c) he expected me to turn him down anyway.

"I'm actually used to roughing it. Don't forget that before I was p-p-pretending to be Mitsuhide's concubine,” Let’s just ignore the fact that for one night, it had not exactly been a pretense. “I was delivering messages all over the country. My tent and bedroll are with my horse, and it’s not as if I wouldn’t be using those the next few nights anyway."

If Yoshimoto noticed my hesitation in describing my relationship to Mitshide, he was kind enough not to mention it. "Tent. Bedroll. No that won't do. There are enough inns on the route to suit."

Ah. We were going glamping. Well, it was his money. The Imagawa were land poor, but Yoshimoto at least seemed to have unlimited wealth. I supposed that now I had liberated my, for want of a better description, trust fund, from Francisco's desk, I could afford to stay at an inn as well.

But for this night, I pointed to his bed. "You, futon. Me, floor." Without giving him a chance to argue, I simply stretched out in the corner, using my pack as a pillow.

The lantern light was suddenly shadowed by his figure, standing over me. “I don’t care that you are used to, as you say, ‘roughing it.’ I will not be able to sleep if I know that you are on the floor. Take my bed please. I have other options.”

… I ended up sleeping in his bed. Yoshimoto found an accommodating tea maid (perhaps the same one as before) and spent the night elsewhere.

The following morning we were off, far later than I would have preferred, but Yoshimoto is not a morning person. In fact, by the time we had left the inn, taken care of half a dozen little tasks that Yoshimoto had insisted were important, it was long past dawn and I was already feeling impatient.

Luckily, getting in touch with one of Shingen’s spies took very little time – in fact as quickly as Yoshimoto made contact, one would think that she’d been watching for him. Or maybe even me, as it turned out that I knew her, for she was the kuinochi who had clued me in on the existence of the contraceptive tea. Sute, who didn’t appear to have a verbal ‘off’ button, had flitted around Yoshimoto, boldly flirting with him, before agreeing that bodyguarding a small boy to Kasugayama sounded like a fun new mission.

Her attention span seemed to jump from topic to topic so quickly that I was dizzy trying to keep up with her. “I love children, I would have a dozen of my own, but Chiyome thinks I would get bored with babies, so she reminds me to drink the – oh, Katsu, are you still drinking the tea?” She twined her arms around Yoshimoto for a moment. “You will need to if you will be travelling with this one. His skin is so very soft, do you not agree?” Then before I could respond to that (although what, really could I say?) she suddenly changed moods completely. “If someone is trying to kill a small boy, don’t worry, I will gut him like a fish.” She gestured to the arsenal of weapons and tools she had with her.

To add reassurance, Yoshimoto nodded. “All of Shingen’s mitsumono are brutal in a fight if necessary. Shingen won’t send anyone out who can’t protect themselves and others. Let us retrieve this child now.” It was said with a slight impatience … as if I hadn’t been agitating to get this show on the road hours ago.

I had a general idea where Hiko and his family lived, and well, Sho’s looks made it easy to track them all down. All I’d had to say was ‘green eyed beauty’ and her neighbors pointed me to their house.

Once Hiko had been guaranteed that his mother and sisters would be taken care of in a safe house arranged by Yoshimoto, he treated the idea of traveling to Kasugayama as a great adventure. In fact the biggest resistence to the plan came from Sho. Though she didn’t blink at my transformation from Kaya to Katsu, the news that Hiko was in danger was another issue altogether. In a show of defiance, my former maid not only refused to go with her mother and sisters to the safe haven, but also insisted upon accompanying her brother as an additional bodyguard. “I’m not helpless. And you’ll need another pair of eyes to keep watch on him. Hiko gets into everything.”

Sute had given her a long measuring look, then surprisingly agreed to another travelling companion.

In fact, Sute and Sho seemed to take an instant liking to each other, and as they got on the road, I could hear them chattering about everything under the sun.

Finally, Yoshimoto and I were able to leave Sakai too. I was happy to have the city in my so called rearview mirror. Moonlight also was glad to be on the road, especially after being stuck in a stable for weeks. I felt the same. Playing house, so to speak, with Mitsuhide would always have been a chore for me because I just didn’t like being inside. Getting back on the road was such a blessed relief....

And maybe if you keep telling yourself that, you will eventually come to believe it.

The only person who didn’t seem relieved to leave the city was Yoshimoto himself. With a figurative dark cloud looming over his head, his frown and drooping posture suggested some private misery. I suspected it had to do with his rebellious vassals, but I hesitated to question him because I didn’t want to make matters worse.

Thankfully, once we were well out of town, and the humid sea air gave way to a cooler crisp weather, he shook himself out of the mood and began peppering me with questions about the future, or, more specifically about the art and culture of the future. “You’ve never talked about this stuff with Sasuke?”

Yoshimoto’s shoulder lifted in a graceful shrug. “I have tried sometimes, but it was clear that his tastes and mine do not converge and I find it frustrating to hear about adventure stories when I prefer to learn about theater, art and dance.”

“Um, you’re probably going to find my conversation just as bothersome then.” Sports were always my interest, and I knew nothing about painting or sculpture.

He turned a dazzling smile to me. “Not at all. Conversation with a lovely young woman is never a bother.” Whoa. I had forgotten that Yoshimoto could turn on the charm when he wished to.

Huh. Hm. I didn’t want to disappoint him after that, so after thinking for a moment, I decided I could manage to speak somewhat authoritatively about film. I took him through the plots of Ran and Throne of Blood, giving him a brief run down of Kurosawa which then detoured to Shakespeare (at least what I could recall of both – which wasn’t a lot in regard to Shakespeare, given my habit of skipping school). And then I remembered that Ran had been inspired by Motonari, or at least the version of him from my own timeline, which made everything weird for me all over again.

Over the past seven years, I had gotten used to living in the same era as the historical figures I had grown up learning about in school. I'd rarely encountered them though, so it had been easy to pretend that they were still characters in a film. Now, I'd just spent the bulk of autumn with Mitsuhide, taken part in a rescue of Hideyoshi, and was travelling with Yoshimoto. I was feeling a bit of surrealistic alienation.

"Katsuko, what happened next?" I realized that Yoshimoto was waiting for me to continue telling him the plot of Ran. "How do they get all of these battles on the stage? Or are your theaters bigger?"

Whoops, I had skipped over the technology involved, "It's not live, we have a different, or well another medium to stage visual stories." As best I could, I tried to explain how movies were made, and how they were available to be viewed at the push of a button.

He got very quiet for a while before saying, "I can't decide if the idea of holding a play in the palm of my hand whenever I want is wonderful or terrible. I'm afraid it would make it all less special."

Hm. He had a point, I supposed. "I've never known any other way. We still have live theater, and dance. It didn’t go away. It's just... really expensive. At least with streaming, more people can enjoy it. Even in my time, people with unlimited funds are the exception, not the rule."

He turned to look at me, and there was pity in that glance. "Is that how you grew up? Were you poor?"

Yoshimoto might consider it so, but he was coming from a life where he’d at least monetarily had everything he wanted and never had to make decisions about whether or not he could afford something. “No. We always had enough to eat, shelter, warm clothes. Just not much extra."

I'd worked in a coffee shop for three years to save up for my snowboard. I didn’t really want to explain further. Though Yoshimoto (when he was in the mood) was an interesting conversationalist, talking about my childhood wasn't something I enjoyed doing, and he didn’t have Mitsuhide's ability to take with facts I gave him and accurately understand the conflicting emotions attached to them. So instead of revealing more of myself, I diverted Yoshimoto's attention back to the movies.

Unfortunately Yoshimoto proved to be distractible in every area of his life, and rather than making good time and traveling directly to our destination, he would often stop, even in the smallest villages, and visit with craftsmen and artisans.

I found it frustrating, and, I’m sure the hulking spy (Mitsuhide’s man – I recognized him from Sakai), who had been patiently following us for several days felt the same. When we stopped to visit what seemed like the tenth artisan in three days, I finally had to protest. “It seems like we’re not making very good time. I could have gotten there already.”

"Would you have pushed yourself and your horse to exhaustion?” Yoshimoto held a ceramic bowl up to the light. It was so shiny, his reflection was visible in it. “By traveling in this manner, you can go faster in short bursts. I would wager we're covering nearly the same territory in the amount of time it would take you to travel the other way. And this way, we learn whether or not Yoshiaki is massing an army because these villagers take note of everything."

Hm. Ok. He was right… and I should have thought of that myself. In my impatience over our lack of speed, I'd stopped paying attention to Yoshimoto’s conversations with the innkeepers and artisans. My bad. "Is he?"

"Not as of yet. I believe he's still in the process of getting promises of support from anti-Oda clans. Small ones." Yoshimoto reluctantly gave the bowl back to the artisan. It was too big to take with us (not that it had stopped his other purchases). "With winter setting in, he'll wait to attack in spring. No one wants to march an army through the mountains in a blizzard."

He turned back to the artisan and purchased the bowl anyway. "I can gift it to my cousin. We're almost to their castle."

Yoshimoto apparently had relatives all over Japan although the exact lines of ancestry I was never clear on. This particular cousin Ohana was married to a daimyo who was currently an ally of Kenshin, or at least that was the apparent relationship. It didn’t seem like much of a connection, especially not when we were basically dropping by with very little warning.

However, when we arrived at a small castle in Takayama, Ohana's husband Susumu welcomed us warmly. Then he immediately bore Yoshimoto off for a long war conversation, leaving Ohana to outfit me with clothing belonging to her youngest son. Besides a warm fur cloak, there were kimonos and hakamas in rich heat-absorbent shades of blue and black. I felt terrible taking her kid's wardrobe, but she waved off my protests.

"In truth, if Genmaro is anything like his father and brothers, I expect he will be half a head taller and more before the new year. And with no other children behind him, I would have sent these on to another cousin anyway." She threw a sturdy dark wine colored kimono on the pile.

I supposed that due to the fact I needed to look the part of an Imagawa page, it was in a sense a uniform. Armor. At least it was physical armor. It seemed that I would need some mental armor as well - both Ohana and Susumu had reacted with identical expressions of horror when Yoshimoto said he was planning to visit Yoshiaki. I imagined that a large portion the conversation between Susumu and Yoshimoto included the Sengoku versions of the expression, ‘are you nuts?’

Yeah, Yoshiaki was beginning to sound like the monster under the bed.

I half expected Yoshimoto’s cousins to lock him in a room and perform an intervention, but all that they managed to do was convince him to spend the night with them, so that we would be awake and alert when we arrived at Yoshiaki’s hideout. We would take with us not only warmer clothing, but also a couple additional servants, as both Yoshimoto and Susumu agreed that in the case of the Shogun, “more is more.”

And ‘more is more’ as in this is beginning to feel like more and more of serious production. As in, if you screw this up, it is more and more likely that you and Yoshimoto will die. It was at that moment that I realized I didn’t actually know what a page did. It was not in my repertoire of disguises, so as we were preparing for the visit, I asked, "Do you have any particular instructions? I've never been a page before."

This request was at least partially prompted by my worry for his mental state. He hadn’t slept at all the night before, for every time I woke up, I saw him standing by the window, staring out at the moon. Indeed, that was where he was when I got up. The moon had set, but Yoshimoto was clinging to that window as if it were a portal to another land. If the wormhole were to appear, I suspect he would leap right into it, not caring about where it led (him, I should at least warn him about the dinosaur possibility). I tried again to get his attention. “Yoshimoto? What does your page do? Carry your luggage?”

With an attitude of reluctance, Yoshimoto finally turned his attention to me. "Stand behind me, in my shadow if possible, bow as low as you can manage, and keep facing down. Don't look at him."

Well, that's ominous. "And if, when I find Iekane?" Accusing the man in front of the Shogun would apparently be an enormous breach of protocol. Probably even considered treason.

"Do you think he will recognize you?" He set out little ceramic pots of make-up… hopefully not for me.

"Well... probably, yes. He knew me as both housemaid Kaya and courier Katsu, so whichever way I’m dressed, he’ll be familiar." Plus, he had, I was sure now, been in Sakai right before my accident, so he'd seen me recently.

He was quiet a moment. "Bow to the floor as soon as you enter, and don't rise unless I give you a direct order. Yoshiaki will think it’s his due anyway."

He sounds like a real charmer. He and Iekane probably deserved each other. Hopefully the floor wouldn’t be too cold there at. Hm. “And what is the name of this place?”

“Genba.” Yoshimoto bit off the word as if it tasted terrible.

Genba.

It was the first I had heard of it. So why was I suddenly feeling claustrophobic while my mind presented me images of a labarinthine path, dark corridors, and the smell of poison? I knew I had never been there before. The word, the place name, totally unfamiliar.

But… something…?

Genba.

Note: "Genba" will sound familiar to anyone who's read "A Mitsunari Night's Dream" as most of the action took place there. Katsu is just getting a deja vu from that other timeline. But the people who live in this Genba aren't exactly the same characters who lived in that other timeline, so it's not necessary to have read Mitsunari's story ... you haven't missed any vital information.

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#10things #10 things I hate about Mitsuhide #mitsuhide monday #ikemen sengoku #fanfic #ikesen fanfic #mitsuhide akechi #ikesen mitsuhide #ikesen yoshimoto #oc katsuko #katsuverse

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