The Beauty of the West: The Blue Route

Chapter Five:Battle at Odawara

Another another eight years had passed, being in Oshu. I had grown into a woman, leaving the weak defenseless girl behind.

By now, I had years of experience in training under my belt. I could even keep up with Masamune in a one on one match, which we seemed to engage in quite a bit even though we weren't training. Sometimes, we would fight over the last dragon fruit, or that the loser would have to pick vegetables from the garden. I would win most of the time.

Masamune had grown into an amazing shogun of Oshu's army. He was still kinda childish though, the way he viewed nearly everything as a game. I had to say, he was also quite handsome. I was around him alot, growing up with him, and I had developed a little crush, but didn't show it. Atleast, I thought I didn't show it.

I was with the troops on a sunny day. I had taken a liking to them. They were all strange and had fun personalities. It was great to train with them, it kept me in a positive mood.

"Did you hear about the boss?" One of the men asked, in a gossip whisper. "I hear he and the Dark king are going at it."

"What? Does the Dark King want his ass whooped?" Another man asked. He had funny hair.

I didn't know who this Dark King was, but it was better that he thought twice before messing with Masamune! I was ready to help Masamune confront him, if that's what we were going to do.

Masamune joined us on the training field, alongside Kojuro,where his troops were gathered waiting for his order on what action we should take.

"Are you ready guys????" Masamune shouted in a way that had everyone pumped up, and they began cheering. I just smiled and clapped a little, watching Masamune's every move.
"The Dark King's forces want to mess with the old coot at Odawara! Not cool, right???"

The army cheered again. He was making it seem like he was being a good Samaritan, but I knew his real intention was to start a fight with the Dark King. Even though that fight had nothing to do with us!

The plan was to travel to Odawara and intercept that attack between the Dark King and whoever the "Old Coot" was. I didn't think much of it, I was just going to follow what Masamune wanted me to do. It was my first official battle however.

I hoped the Dark King knew what he was in for. Little did I know, he knew exactly what he was getting in to. The same, however, could not be said for me.
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The army on horses, we left Oshu to begin our venture to Odawara. My horse was next to Kojuro's. He kept looking at me and asking me the same questions over and over every few minutes as if he had forgotten he had asked in the first place;

"Are you ready, Young Blossom?" Kojuro asked for the hundredth time. I nodded, not showing my irritability about the matter. "Stay near lord Masamune and me okay?" I nodded again.

"Thank you for your worry." I replied for the hundredth time. "But I will be okay."

"You've been with us for a while now, Young Blossom. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Thanks Kojuro."

It had been a while, like Kojuro had said. I had started to give up my vengeful hate towards my father during the past years. Don't get me wrong, I still loathed what he did to me; it just took a back seat to my life at the moment. Staying with Masamune and Kojuro made me so happy. And Masamune, though he was a jerk, was nice to be around sometimes. Despite everything he did have a way of making me laugh. I promised my self then, that if we returned from the battle with the Dark King, I would tell Masamune my name....and how I felt about him.
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We arrived at Odawara some time the next day, and there sure was a commotion! From afar we could spot atleast three armies, one that caught my eye momentarily but I didn't think much of it.

"Let's go men!Let's show 'em who's boss!" Masamune cheered along with his men, and they all began charging towards the battle. I followed, though not as enthusiastic to go and kill a bunch of people I didn't even know. Still, I went. And I killed. I was sure to stay near Kojuro like he had wanted, but really, I didn't need to, being so skilled.

"Young Blossom! Get in the gate and protect Ujimasa!" Kojuro yelled at me, probably because he thought it would be less dangerous. A path was cleared from me to the gate, and I hurried to make my way there. Upon entry, I interrupted a battle between some ninja and an artillery led by a woman with fiery hair. I had no idea who Ujimasa was, but I needed to find him in all the chaos. In an instant, the ninja had parished at the hands of the artillery and it wasn't long until the woman spotted me.

"You. Girl!" She called over to me, while pointing her gun at me. I froze, with my hand on my sword. "Are you with Odawara? Or are you an ally of Toyotomi?"

"....what did you just say...?" I asked, removing my hand from my sword and slowly approaching her by walking through the field of freshly dead bodies. "Did you just say Toyotomi? Are they here??"

"Where do you think you Are? From the looks of your armor you must be associated with the One Eyed Dragon.."

"I just arrived here with him to 'check out the party' as he puts it. He said something about the Dark King, and that he was messing with an old guy."

"I see. We were sent here to kill him." She cocked her gun. "So I'll ask again; are you with us, or against us?"

"Wait a minute!" Someone with a deeper voice stated from some distance. A man caught my eye from behind the artilery as he made his way through. He was taller than most all of the gunmen. He was bulkier too.

I was ready to make a break for it. That man was huge, and surely he wouldn't be able to chase me.

"You, I have seen you before. Where did you come from?" He asked me finally, after having to weave his way through the gunmen. Not only was he a heavily built man, but his arms were bound to a heavy prisonball he had to drag around with him that made me tired just by looking at it. I looked at him questionably, my heart racing. Also he looked ridiculous with hair covering his face.

"Oshu." I replied.

"I see... then you couldn't be who he thought you were." His enthusiasm dissolved into depression, but then decided to try again. "Your name wouldn't happen to be (Y/N) would it??"

It was silent as I looked at the strange man, a million things going through my mind at once as my brain was remembering so many things at once.

".....Kanbe....?"