Ninja Love: Saizo Kirigakure

Chapter 29

"We can finish the waterfall training some other day, but for now we need to get you back to Iga to properly dress your wounds." Saizo busied himself with packing up the little amount of weaponry, food, and miscellaneous items we had brought along in a leather satchel. Hayatemaru had stuck around and perched himself on my shoulder to preen.

I mindlessly rubbed his beak as I watched Saizo finish up. We were both dressed in our kimonos now that they were dry (even though Saizo's had a piece missing from it now).

"Maybe on the way back I can teach you a little about plants with healing properties. Just up the ridge around the waterfall, there are several different varieties of plants that treat different ailments." Saizo helped me up off of my rock with a strong pull. Hayatemaru squawked in protest before settling down again.

Suddenly, Saizo gripped me by the shoulder with one hand and put a finger over his mouth to shush me with the other. His brow furrowed in concentration and he tilted his head towards the forest and the direction of Iga.

I knew he had heard something, and I quietly stepped towards him in discomfort.

It felt like I had barely blinked before Saizo pulled out a handful of kunai out of the satchel with nearly no noise. I began to hear the hoof beats too and braced myself to put up another fight with Nobunaga's men.

The pounding got closer and closer until I could finally see a blur through the trees. As Saizo pulled into a fighting stance, a single horse and rider burst past the tree line, the horse rearing to a stop at our small encampment.

"Saizo, what in the- oh." Saizo and I both relaxed at the sound of Kuma's voice.

I chuckled a little and moved towards the large woman and her horse. "Kuma, you almost gave us a heart attack!"

She joined me I laughing as she hopped down from her horse. "Sorry to sneak up on you like that, but Saizo, Master Hanzo wants to see you immediately. He said a message has arrived that you need to see." Her bluish eyes shone with seriousness and Saizo nodded grimly.

"Alright, I'll hurry back."

Kuma silently offered him the reigns of the horse she had been riding. Saizo swung himself up into the saddle and turned to us before he started off. "Kuma, could you please take Misaki up the mountain to get some herbs for her cut? Take the satchel and Hayatemaru with you."

At Kuma's consenting nod, he cracked the reigns and disappeared into the forest.

-

The walk up to the herbs was mostly uneventful, with Kuma and I carrying on mindless chatter about trivial things. However, our subject eventually meandered to the abilities of the ninja.

"Kuma, have you ever seen Saizo in a fight?" I kicked a rock along the overgrown path as we walked.

Kuma smiled. "Oh yes, many times. It's quite a sight to behold."

"How does he get so fast? Sometimes it feels like there's more than one of him!" I threw my hands up, forcing Hayatemaru up into the air. He continued after us, resting in trees while he waited for us to catch up.

Kuma paused thoughtfully before continuing slowly. "Princess, it has to do with his training and duty as a ninja. You see, a select few elite ninja are chosen every once in a while to be the bearers of great and unique powers that are said to originate from the moon goddess herself. Every ninja's ability is different, and very few people actually know how these gifts are granted, but it happens nonetheless."

I rolled this new information over in my head.

I knew there was something more to Saizo...