A Good Deed Gone Unpunished

Mai Develops Some Trauma

Mai was beyond terrified when soldiers came to escort her to Shingen. She was putting everything on the line: her life, her friends' safety, her chance at freedom. Sitting alone in her room, picking at a loose thread on the extravagant, inconvenient outfit she'd been dolled up in, her nerves boiled in her stomach. Her fingers buzzed, the back of her neck felt uncomfortably warm. But as the soldiers slid open her door, the fear dulled. Mai stopped trembling, her heartbeat slowed down, and she almost felt calm. She was now so scared she'd transcended fear and looped all the way back to neutrality.

Shingen propped her up against his front on his massive warhorse. "Sorry, Princess," he said, chest buzzing as he spoke. "We need to show you off."

Eugh.

On the way to the war front, Mai let her thoughts wander back to Mitsunari. Daydreaming about him was second nature by now. Just like how a sled runs through snow faster in old trails or how wheels struggle to exit deep tracks in mud, the more Mai thought of him the harder it was to stop. Would he be worried about her? Would he approve of her plan?

The last thing he said to her... what had she done to ruin their friendship? There hadn't been much time to sulk since the whole kidnapping thing, but with nothing else to do on horseback Mai had all the time in the world to sink into her despair. Mitsunari was a highlight, maybe the biggest highlight, of her time-travel debacle. What was she supposed to do without his sweet smiles? Or the way he dorkily wandered into walls? Or how his face scrunched up when he ate vegetables?

At least Kitty still liked her.

Mai might be riding to her death. Her plan utilized all the political leverage she had, as a woman in history. Her inner modern woman cringed as she spent what could be her last day wondering about how a guy thought of her. Really though, Mitsunari was her inspiration. His goal for a peaceful world brought about through knowledge had moved her to educate herself. Without all the studying she'd done, she would never have understood the power she had as a prisoner. Without Mitsunari's happiness as a goal, she would never have the motivation to throw herself into a battlefield.

Too soon, Shingen's horse arrived at th Uesugi-Takeda alliance camp. It was organized the same way as the Oda forces' camp: medical tent, tents for lords, tents for soldiers, a few campfires with rice boiling over them, massive war horses, nervous soldiers chatting amongst themselves. As Shingen helped her off his horse, whispers broke out in the camp.

"That's the Oda princess!"

"What was Nobunaga thinking, bringing a princess to the battlefield?"

"Don't you know? She's his mistress."

For the love of god, could that stupid rumor die already?!

"We're charging in three hours, Princess. Don't go anywhere." With an over-the-top wink and a frustratingly suggestive smirk, Shingen sauntered off to who knows where, leaving Mai standing awkwardly in the middle of an enemy campsite.

What was she supposed to do for three hours...?

"Woman, come here," Kenshin said, standing in the entrance to his tent. The soldiers started whispering again, this time in shock that Kenshin was talking to a woman. These people were all so weird.

Sasuke was sitting at a makeshift table in Kenshin's tent. "Hello, Mai."

"Keep her entertained. I don't need a woman distracting my men."

Mai knew exactly what that was code for. With her possible demise coming up in a matter of hours, she figured she could afford to joke around. "Aw, Lord Kenshin, you do care!"