Chapter 32

KATSUGAWA MIYUKI

The Princess of the Fire nation sat opposite to her lord husband's concubine to be, a tumultuous set of emotions beset her. Lady Himiko Chiba was beautiful. The years she had beyond her had allowed her to blossom beautifully from a girl to a proper woman.

Yet Miyuki herself was a beauty in her own right, and that part of her didn't truly trouble her. No, what troubled her were the rumours and the words she had heard about the infamous Oracle. Miyuki may have been too preoccupied in her grief as a princess to care for rumours much, but even she was not oblivious to the whispers spoken about the infamous Oracle Priestess.

Said to be blessed by the Shinto Gods, Himiko Chiba was an anomaly in the world of nobility, occupying a somewhat mythical figure in many religious circles for her prowess.

"You must have my condolences on the death of your father. Hirayoshi-sama was a true noble who had brought much prosperity to these lands. May the Gods grant you patience and the lands a ruler as noble as him," she offered, sounding as she should. There was no hint of malice or fabricated sorrow in her tone as she finished her words.

The remainder of her father's death was a sorrow but one she must come to terms with quickly, given her station.

"Thank you for your kind thoughts, Lady Chiba," she said as she gave the woman a bow. And then there was silence again, despite her attempts, there was not much to talk about, until Lady Chiba shifted slightly as she began with a gentle smile.

"I must say I was rather surprised when word reached of Akihito-sama accepting my father's proposal for a match," she began, and Miyuki frowned; she was missing something there.

"I cannot see why you would be surprised, my lady. Lord Chiba is an esteemed lord, and you, a noble lady, and my lord husband were honoured by the matc..."

"But he wasn't the one who accepted it," suddenly she cut in, the words catching her off guard. They were dangerous words, words that could bring dishonor to Akihito-sama. So, she steeled herself as she narrowed her eyes.

"Himiko-sama, that is a prepostero..."

"There is no need to lie. After all, you must know of my other name, Princess," Lady Chiba said. She was not sure what she had just gotten herself and Akihito involved in.

"Me and Akihito go quite a way back, and I had always known that he would end up marrying you, Princess," she continued, her words making her still as she felt the world around her halt.

'She knew'

How? She knew of her status as the oracle, as the blessed miko. She had predicted storms and wars and other calamities, yet this was unexpected. Marriage.

"Your fates were intertwined, his and yours. I had seen it. Just as it is in his fate to ascend to your father's throne," Lady Chiba continued, unaware or uncaring of the effect her words would have on her.

"How can you say that? That is..."

"My Miracle," she cut in once more as she pointed her eyes, which were glowing ominously.

"You!" she gasped out as she was lost for words.

"I can see it. A person's fate. Not everyone's, but for those whom the gods wish to tell me. It sometimes comes as dreams, visions, sometimes even a simple sensation of wrongness..."

"What are you talking about?" she questioned.

"I am saying that life is often too boorish. Fate is a fickle thing. And I had thought none had the power to change it, that was until I met him," cut in Lady Chiba as she smiled, and she felt a shiver run down her spine.

And somehow, it all began to click together.

"And how the gods loathed him, detested him," she continued, her words snarling in absurd fascination as she talked about Akihtio-sama. She was dangerous, she could tell that much, Himiko Chiba was not a normal woman.

Yet she must be strong. Stronger.

"I warn you, Lady Chiba!" she cut in, surprising herself and the older girl as she looked her in the eye.

"If you even dare to think of harming Akihito-sama, I will make sure that you suffer a fate so unspeakable that even the Gods would shiver at it." She warned him, the words slipping out of her mouth as Lady Chiba looked at her with wide eyes.

"Harm him?" she questioned in a somewhat puzzled tone before she raised her hand and began to shake her head.

"I believe you are mistaken, Princess," Lady Chiba said seriously.

"I do not wish to harm him. I wouldn't dare," she answered quickly, and there was a sense of inhumanness in her tone as her eyes glinted as she continued.

"I merely wish for him is to grasp his full potential, accomplish what none have managed to do so in a hundred years," she uttered, and a frown appeared on her face and she continued grandly.

"To do what none before him have managed to do, to become the Sh...."

But her words were cut off as the doors to the room slid open, cutting them off, and her eyes snapped up to see just who had done such disrespect, only to halt as she recognized the face standing there.

"I hope I am not intruding," he said with a smile as he looked towards her, and she gasped out.

"Akihito-sama!"

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KATSUGAWA TATSUYA-The Third Prince

With their decision made, the Third Prince, Katsugawa Tatsuya, found himself with his advisors as they planned their assault on the Akihito Shirahoshi.

Yakumo and Kante, two of his retainers and the men who had assembled the whole force, sat by his side along with the man he would call the crown jewel of his army.

Kenshiro Ougi is a samurai who is young and able yet equally unpredictable. The young prodigy was said to have killed a jounin single-handedly during his training. He was a prodigy with the blade often said to be the heir to the throne once occupied by Watashi Masamune.

Yet he was unruly and disrespectful, and even now, in his presence, the fool had the gall to sleep as he sat there with no decorum. Yet he would have bitten his tongue. For some time, he consoled himself.

'Only for some time, then he will learn. They will all learn.'

"We have written time and time again to Lord Hattori and Saegusa, yet they have not responded to any of our letters requesting aid," Yakumo began from the side, his face even as he wore a golden kimono with a minister's hat atop his head.

"At this time, I am afraid we can expect little to no aid from them," he finished, and Tatsuya snarled.

"Those bastards!" he snarled angrily. These same lords would skimmer to his side previously, but now, with the support of his grandfather gone, they had backed away. Opportunistic bastards.

"Yet thankfully, apart from these two, most of our other supporters have not backed away despite our fears. Many lords flock towards Akihito Shirahoshi's side as well, yet most of them are newly minted lords with barely a generation in them. They have lesser men to offer, and even now, we have yet to learn of any new alliance being made by him apart from Lord Chiba," Kante added, and that relief was enough, he supposed.

"How do our armies compare," he questioned as Kante moved forward and unfurled a map of the whole province.

"Lord Shirahoshi has lands with little natural protection. They are mostly plains and straights, and while our numbers of regular footmen are comparable, when it comes to apprentices and samurai, we have superior numbers," Kante said as he placed a few wooden figures around the village they were currently residing in.

"My grandfather had a similar advantage, yet he lost nonetheless. I will not share a similar fate," he barked out.

"You will not!" a rather snoozy voice cut in from the other side of the room as he looked up and found Kenshiro Ougi yawning as he wiped his eyes.

"At least as long as you ignore what these two idiots have to say," he continued as she pointed toward Kante and Yakumo.

"You!" Yakumo spluttered, but he raised his hand, stopping him.

"And what would you say then, Ougi-san? What should we do? How should we attack Akihito-sama?" he questioned, and the prodigy killer looked him in the eye.

"Say what you will, but that young lord has a mind greater than you and thus lot combined; if you turn this into a battle of wits, you will lose," he continued, insulting him and his retainers as if it was nothing.

Yet perhaps for a man like him, it truly was. The man began to tie back his unruly hair as he continued.

"How many samurai do you have?" he questioned.

"Thirteen," came the answer from Kante.

"And how many does he have, including himself?" he questioned.

"Six, maybe seven," and with that, he yawned once more.

"So, you do the simple thing. You do not try to be clever or make elaborate plans. You use what you have. You fight using the advantage you have."

He continued as he finished tying off his thick black hair.

"You smash into him. Together, all thirteen of your men against all seven of his. You take the brains out of the equation and let brawn do the talking,"

"That is idiotic, prepos..." Yakumo tried, but he stopped him.

"And how can I be certain that this will work?" he questioned.

"Oh, it will. After all, it is I, Kenshiro Ougi, making that claim," the man lightly tapped the table, and with that, he felt the air in the room shift. The hair on his skin pricked up, and then the table separating them was suddenly cleaved right in the middle.

THUNK!

"I will be going now," and with that, the man stood up and left, yawning still, leaving him and his retainers sweating.

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RIN NOHARA

Rin Nohara tried to come to terms with the words she ahd just heard as she gaped at the noble sitting infront of her.

"You are a brother of the fire daimyo? The current one? Lord Katsugawa?" she questioned once more, recalling the face of the old noble leader of the land of fire.

"Ah, I should have been more clear. I was entrusted with your safety by the next fire daimyo. I am the son of Lord Katsugawa who passed recently," and then it became clear, yet she frowned.

"But you said you were the water daimyo," she questioned again.

"Indeed, I am, or more importantly, I will be, just as Lord Akihito Shirahoshi will be the fire daimyo," he added, and she was not aware of the politics much and failed to recognize the names.

Perhaps seeing her confusion.

"My mother was the daughter of the last water daimyo, and hence, I held a claim to the position of the water daimyo. A claim which i have chosen to pursue to bring peace back to my mother's homeland," he elaborated and it made somethings clear.

"Yet you must also hold a claim as fire daimyo?" she questioned. He nodded as he sipped his tea, motioning for her to take a sip as well.

"Indeed, yet I chose to give it up for Akihito, my brother in all but blood. And please, do have a taste, I can assure it is not poisoned," as a shinobi she was cautious enough but given her treatment over the past days and everything she was hearing, she was involved in matters far greater than she had any right to understand.

She sipped the tea, and it was better than anything she had ever had. It was even better than the blend her sensei would often make for them.

"Am I your prisoner?" she decided to ask straight away, and the air in the room shifted at her words as the Prince's eyes narrowed.

"No, you are not. You are a guest, an honored guest. You are as free in these halls as me," he answered, and the meaning of the last sentence was not lost to her.

"Yet not beyond these halls," she pointed out, and he nodded with a smile.

"I am afraid so. The situation in the village and the land is tumultuous at the moment. The country is rife with battle and conflict, and given your status and origins, if you were to step out of this Hall, you would find yourself in much danger. As soon as the conflict ends, you shall be handed back to Konoha after peace negotiations, but until then, I must insist that you remain here under my protection," he answered, and his words seemed genuine enough.

"Status? What status? I am a simple chunin?" she retorted, and the man's lips turned up as he answered.

"You undervalue yourself. After all, no student of the infamous Yellow Flash is just a simple chunin."

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