Lessons

When we took our first rest for the way to my village, despite being separated from both Nobunaga and Hideyoshi for the majority of the journey, I sought out my teacher. Masamune Date looks absolutely thrilled to see me as he dismounts his horse.

"Thank you." I say with a smile as I approach him.

He laughs. "Let me guess." He leans in closer so no one around us will hear. "You enjoyed what it brought out in him?"

I blush rose to my cheeks. "I'm not sure I want to know how you know what that does to him."

He raises his shoulders and closes his eyes as he smiles innocently. Once some of the men took his horse to take care of it for him, he turned to me. "Ready to train."

I nod my head, trying to not look or sound too excited. "I'm ready to learn sensei."

He leads my guards and I to a space a short walk away from the traveling party. I was expecting him to show me how to fight, and was irritated at his first instruction. "Show me how you dance now."

"What does that have to do with teaching me to fight?" I nearly huff the words.

"Tsk tsk tsk Rina. I thought you said you were ready to be taught." The one eyed dragon smirked.

I begin moving without a second thought. Playing the music that Nobunaga and Hideyoshi played for me at the hot springs in my head. When I was two thirds of the way through Masamune spoke up. "I see what they were saying. You'll probably catch on quick to the movements. Does practicing in your head help you?" I nod yes. "Okay. I'm going to have one of my men come to help show you some of the choreography, once we reach our last rest spot for the day I'll have you show me what you've learned and retained. Do you think you can handle that?"

I nod my head again. I can handle more. He's being too gentle and too slow. I'm guessing he doesn't want to spar with me because I'm a woman. I've read the movements, I've seen diagrams of the movements and have stored them in my mind, replaying them over and over again, imagining I'm fighting Kenshin. As he walked past me to summon his man to help, I decided to go for it and swung my leg out to kick him as hard as I possibly could in the gut.

It must've been the element of surprise that made it possible for me to kick Masamune Date hard enough that he landed on the ground. I continued to take my moment and pin him to the ground, landing my knees on the pressure points I've read about and pressed my hands to his neck. I can feel every set of eyes from our traveling party are on us now, including the two people I want to prove I am capable.

My sensei is still catching his breath, struggling a bit with my hands squeezing his throat but unable to reach for me because of the pressure points I have him pinned as I speak loud enough for all of the other men to hear. "I'm no master of strategy like Mitsunari, but I do know to never underestimate Someone who wants to fight." A rumbling of laughter comes from the group of men watching. "If you weren't my husband's ally, you would be dead by my hand." More of a joking "oooh." Comes from the men at that.

Nobunaga's voice silenced all of the rumblings. "Enough." I turn to see him, keeping my smile hidden from even him right now as his carnelian eyes are cold on me. He's the warlord now, not the lover. I thought seeing him like this would make my heart hurt, but it doesn't. Seeing him lead, seeing him focused, only makes me respect him more.

I get off of Masamune and extend my hand to help him up, which he denies and rises to his feet without assistance. "It will never happen again Lady Oda." He promises as he dusts himself off.

We both walk back to the large group to find his man. As we were walking I was approached by Ranmaru and told to meet Nobunaga in the woods where he directed me. Masamune nodded in acknowledgement, still looking a bit irritated with me for embarrassing him.

I don't see Nobunaga as I approach the trees and continue to walk further. I don't even hear him. It isn't until I am suddenly swept off my feet, hitting the ground and being pinned by the devil king that I know where he is.

He doesn't use pressure points like I do, he uses his strength to hold my wrists above my head, and his weight on my thighs is too great for me to lift. "Nobu!"I yell loud enough for the party to hear.

He leans down, his face almost touching mine, and his red eyes looking intensely into me. "I'm glad that your reading taught you the pressure points you used on Masamune. Just don't forget that you are not strong enough to over power someone who puts you in this position."

I push my face to kiss, and my hips up against him with a feminine moan and he laughs into my mouth. I collapse on to the ground in time for him to stop laughing and speak again. "That might work for a moment on anyone other then me."

I even laugh as he releases me and rolls to his back in the soft grass. I roll and rest a hand on his chest. "Did I impress you at all?" I pout.

He turns to me with his eyebrows knit. "Are you focused on learning how to defend yourself or are you just trying to impress me?"

I sigh. "I am focused on learning how to fight and on impressing you."

He stays serious despite my flirtation. "Don't get overly confident. The moment you start to think you're good enough is the moment someone can cut you down."

I slide my leg over his hips and roll myself on top of him. "Is that how you took your brother down?" He nods in response. I place my hand on his chest where I know the scar is hidden under his clothes and speak low and calm. "Then I won't forget your teaching."

He sits up and pulls me into a kiss. My hands climb over his shoulders, up his neck and into his dark hair. To everyone else he may look calm and cold, but I can feel his passion and fire when he touches me. He is readying himself for war and if I don't prove that I am capable of defending myself, it could be the distraction that kills him. When our faces separate and I take a deep breath I speak confidently. "I'm going to train and I will not let myself believe I'm good enough to rest."

A slight smile crosses his lips before we get up off the ground and head back to the party. He walks me to the training area where Masamune is waiting with another man who is larger than himself.

"Did the two of you have a nice roll in the woods?" The Date asks with a smirk, the playfulness back in his eye.

"Masamune," Nobunaga sounds irritated. "This is a joke right?" He gestures to the other man.

The one eyed dragon lifts his shoulders as he opens his arms wide. "She clearly needs a bigger challenge."

Nobunaga huffed before pulling me in to his side and kissing my forehead. "Give them hell." He whispers before heading back to the rest of the party.

Masamune approaches me and reaches towards my face. He pulls a twig out of my hair with an amused look on his face. "Are you sure you don't need to rest after you've been with the devil?"

I raised an eyebrow with my own smirk as I reply all too convincingly. "His seed makes me stronger." I lick my lips before resting my face into a satisfied smile. I have a feeling Nobunaga will appreciate this rumor spreading. Both men in front of me shift as uncomfortable laughs leave them.

I watch as Masamune and his man begin to fight. I can see why Nobunaga and Hideyoshi think I will learn Masamune's fighting styles quickly, he moves with grace and strength as he not only avoids the other man's assaults but strikes a blow each time. I also see why they worry. I am nowhere near as strong as either of these men, my blows will have a lower impact. I need to make sure every contact I make with a foe hits a critical point or I will be overpowered before getting a second chance.

Masamune is much more agile than the other man, so I see why he chose him to be the example. I'm supposed to be watching how my sensei fights against someone that could easily overpower him. The spar ends with the one eyed flirt holding the larger man's arms up and his legs squeezed around the other man's neck until he passed out. "And then I would simple slit his throat." He says before getting to his feet.

I wait for him to catch his breath and get a drink and make my way to where he had just got done fighting and I wait. As he approaches I ready myself and he laughs. "I told you we will set up a partner for you to spar with at camp tonight."

I huff. "Afraid I'll take you to the ground again?"

With that the sparing begins. He's fast, I'm just barely able to avoid being hit much less make an attack. Soon enough the other men have started to gather to watch the one eyed dragon and the Devil Kong's Phoenix dance.

"We've attracted a crowd." He sounds pleased.

"What a shame. I was hoping you would stop taking it easy on me." I don't smile as I speak so I can focused on dodging and looking for my opportunity to strike. When some of the men started a low "ooh" at my words to poke at Masamune with me I couldn't stop the slight lift of the corners of my lips.

The Date scoffs as I side step his attack. "This is your first day of training. I can't go full force on you your first day now can I?"

I hold in my laugh. "Afraid I'll give up if you're too hard on me?"

He laughs and as soon as his eye closes I go for it. My legs are stronger than my arms, so that's what I'm going with as I target his stomach again. Just as I'm about to make contact he grips my leg and uses my momentum to throw me to the ground.

I lay there as the dust settles, gasping for air as a large shadow comes over me. Masamune leans over me, not looking at all like his usual well humored self. "I like what you showed me today." He looks up towards where I can only guess either Nobunaga or Hideyoshi are standing looking irritated. "Let's get you to Ieyasu to make sure you're unharmed."

I sit up, brushing away his hand that he had extended towards me and look around. I was right. Hideyoshi looks upset at both Masamune and myself. As I stand and brush myself off I look up at my teacher. "I'm physically unharmed. Can you show me how to handle a katana next?"

He laughs, full bellied and returns to his pleasant self with that dazzling smile. "The basics only. No sparing with the katana today. Then we have the healer take a look at you."

When the horn was blown to summon us all back to our horses I was still practicing the basic movements with the blade. My hands are already hurting from the practice and when I place it in its sheath secured around my waist next to my gun i notice that some of the skin of my palms is torn and a bit bloody. Masamune has left me alone, only my guards, who rarely have their eyes on me, more like their eyes are around me, constantly looking for threats.

By how quickly he approached me I'm assuming that Hideyoshi had been watching me for some time. "Let me see." He sighs as he folds his fingers and extends them for me to show him my hands.

He grumbles as he sees how torn up my hands are. "Your hands should be wrapped if you're going to use the Katana... actually let's just make it a rule from now on to keep your hands wrapped in an attempt to protect a part of you I'm particularly fond of." His voice lowered, although I'm sure the guards can hear.

"Toyotomi..." I blush.

"I'm going to miss how soft they were." He closed his eyes.

"They will heal." I laugh as I remove my hands before he pulls them to his lips Incase someone sees.

He doesn't smile when his eyes open. "They won't be the same. You're changing."

I lift an eyebrow. "Phoenixes are known for that." That made him smile, slight, but I'll take what I can get right now.

"Let's get you to Ieyasu before heading out." He offers me his arm, innocent enough, but I don't take it. We are already the worst kept secret, no need to add logs to that fire.

After Ieyasu checks me over, scolds me for not wrapping my hands, and properly bandages them with some kind of ointment that stings at first but eventually eases the discomfort, we go to find my horse. Standing there is the dusty blonde Ranmaru. "Lord Oda asks that you go see him." Hideyoshi and I look at each other confused before heading to the front of the line.

Nobunaga hasn't mounted his horse yet. As soon as I see him standing there by his white horse my heart skips. He really is a beautiful man with his dark hair and bright eyes. Hideyoshi stops at his horse, and my heart aches for a moment as I walk on.

As soon as I approach the devil king, in front of all of his men, he pulls me in by the hips and brings our faces close. "I heard that your hands are injured. Did your teacher fail to show you how to wrap them?"

I swallow. He's being very serious. "No. He showed me. I just... I was eager to begin practicing the movements and thought the wrappings could wait."

His eyes darken. "Did you learn from that?" His voice is just as dark as his eyes now.

"Yes my lord." I'm a little frightened by him in this moment and as his grip on my hips tighten I almost whine from the pain.

"What did you learn Rina." His words remain low, but they aren't cold. Is this how he is when he's worried?

I only have to think for half a moment before responding. "To not rush into something without being prepared."

His grip relaxed a little and a hint of a smile entered his expression. "Good. You're learning fast."

I smile, resisting the urge to cup his face. "Will you please kiss me now? As a reward for—" his warm lips consume whatever the end of that sentence would have been. I only hear a second of the men's cheers and responses to the kiss because when he deepens it I'm taken somewhere that only the two of us exist for a moment.

When he pulls away from the kiss he moves his knee up against me, and I bite my lip to stop the little moan that would've escaped. His lips are hot against my ear. "You do realize you won't be able to use your hands tonight, don't you? I think we can have some fun with that."

I turn to him so no one else sees how red my face is getting. "You're evil and everyone can see us right now."

His voice is huskier than I'd like in such a public setting. "Let them. It will keep their spirits up." He pulls away from me with a little smirk. "You'll be riding with me for the rest of the day so you don't have to grip the reigns with your injured hands."

We mount and continue to head North. After some time he leans into my ear. "As much as I would like to take credit for the idea of having you ride with me, I bet you can guess who's idea it really was." Of course it was Hideyoshi's.

"But he was with me when Ieyasu treated my hands and didn't leave my side... and he was confused when Ranmaru told me to come see you..." I sound utterly perplexed.

Nobunaga laughs. "He got Ranmaru involved? Someone likes to play with you Rina. He saw you practicing with your hands unwrapped and came to me with this idea."

Just then Hideyoshi came galloping to be by our side. The way his blonde hair moves and catches the sunlight, and his kind golden eyes sparkle, I'm mesmerized for a moment.

"How ever will I get you back Toyotomi?" I ask playfully.

"Careful Rina." Nobunaga warns from behind me and I bow my head. This is more difficult than I realized. I need to be more aware of my words and tone than I normally am around them.

Hideyoshi rides ahead to see if the scouts have run into any trouble. It makes me a little nervous that he's going out there until I see several other men follow. Nobunaga speaks in an assured tone. "He will be fine Rina. He's done it countless times before." I keep watching Hideyoshi until he is no longer visible.

As we rode towards my village Nobunaga and I stayed silent for awhile. I tried to enjoy the scenery, but my mind kept jumping back to the dream of my village I had the other night.

My mother is prone to having vivid dreams that we came to realize are more than dreams, they are visions. She predicted the arrival of attackers numerous times and when she saw the Oda forces coming it was her visions that made my father decide to not fight them off. Out of all of their daughters I was chosen to marry Nobunaga because her dreams showed unity if we were to join. While Kenshin had me I often wondered if my mother knew.

The sun was starting to get low when we approached the campsite that the scouts and Hideyoshi had already started setting up. Nobunaga spoke firmly as we approached. "No more training. You should head straight to the tent and sleep."

I turned to look at him with a scowl. "My hands are only slightly injured and I plan to use my legs in hand to hand combat training. I've been envisioning my movements and how to counter Masamune's this whole time." I'm whining, I shouldn't be but I am. His hands grip my hips tightly again as he speaks my name in a tense manner.

I remove all whine and pout from my voice and speak in a calm and collected way. "I won't be able to sleep until I burn up some of the energy I've built up practicing in my mind."

His hands relax and rub my hips and start to move forward over my hips. "There are other ways to burn that energy." He whispers against my ear.

A low growl of frustration escapes me as I go to stop his hands. "Please allow me to train. We will be at my village in two days, and we could run into an enemy at any time on our way there, and will most likely be in battle soon after."

"You will not be in the battle Rina. You will be back at head quarters with a Ieyasu helping tend the wounded like you did before." His voice is stern. "Fine. Train. But not very long."

After dismounting he reaches to help me down and as my hands reach his shoulders I do my best to not sound triumphant. "Thank you." He smirks as we walk towards camp.

Masamune finds me before we eat. He looks worried, a look I'm not used to seeing from the one eyed dragon. "Are you feeling okay? I heard about your hands. I showed you how to wrap them. Why didn't you wrap them?"

I blushed and lowered my head. "My apologies sensei for making you look like an incapable teacher when you are nothing but the opposite. I was eager to practice wielding the blade and skipped the preparations. It will not happen again."

He caught his breath and gathered himself as my head rose. "That's... quite good Rina. You are forgiven. I guess we can put your training off until tomorrow evening, give your hands some time to heal."

"No thank you sensei." I bow my head again. "I'm ready to spar tonight."

He laughs. "I can see why The devil king is so fond of you. Let's go now before your meal. Do you want to have Ieyasu check the bandages before?"

I raise my head again to speak. "I would prefer after we train."

A small distance away we find some space to practice and again we have a crowd, smaller this time, but still an audience.

My teacher smiles. "I like what I saw earlier. You dodged my attacks well and you didn't rush into an attack until I was distracted."

I humphed. "But you still got me."

He laughs gently. "Yes, because I've been doing this longer that you." His hands rest on his hips as he continues. "This time, try making more attacks, but do your best to not leave yourself open for too long when you do."

And with that we begin our session. I am brought to the ground each time I go for an attack. After the fifth failed attempt I let out a frustrated "ugh" as I get up from the ground.

Masamune smiles down at me. "That's enough. I need to go check the food and you need to rethink your attacks." And with that he walks off. I chase after him and jump onto his back. "Nice try. Would you like a ride back to camp?" He asks with a side cocked head.

"Yes, I'm exhausted." I sigh as my head falls onto his shoulder. He grabs my legs and carries me to tent where I will be staying.

His voice is kind. "How about I bring your food here and you rest. You did well today."

As my feet hit the ground I cross my arms. "I failed to land a single blow, I was put on my back every time. My rash behavior ended up in me injuring my hands. How did I do well?"

He smiled warmly at me. "You dodged more attacks than what hit you. You were only ever hit because you tried to attack. I think you learned what rash behavior can lead to today. Overall, as your teacher, and don't tell anyone else I said this, but I'm more impressed with what you've done today than with what most of the other men I've trained gave me their first day of training." He pats me on the head before walking off. Inside the tent I collapse onto the futon and almost instantly fall asleep.