The Daughter Of Hideyoshi

Chapter 15

When I was done, I slid from the table to start cleaning my bowl in the sink. I rinsed off the dish as I grabbed the sponge and started to clean. Toshiie worked on making something on the stove right next to me. A couple of pieces of bacon sizzled in the pan on the stove, drifting over towards me, but it wasn't enough to make me hungry. I put my plate on the drainboard as I went for the cup and started to clean again. Toshiie turned to me as he cracked a smile. "Did you get plenty to eat?" he asked as I nodded. "Yeah. That and the banana that I took to the meeting," I said, as I started to rinse out the cloth. Toshiie smiled as he continued to cook. "Good. Gonna want a lot of energy for practice," he said, as I nodded. "Yeah. Gonna be hard," I said, with a sigh. Toshiie cracked a smile. "It's going to be fine. It's not really that hard either. Once you get the basics down, it's pretty easy," he explained. I turned to look up at him. "Is it hard if you're not comfortable with the weapon?" I asked as he nodded. "It's very hard if you have the wrong weapon. Especially when you're trying to figure out which weapon works best for you," he explained. I stopped to look at him as I thought to myself. "How do you tell if it's the right weapon or not?" I asked as Toshiie shrugged. "Just by the comfort your at when you use it. Then it all has to do with the practice," he said, as I nodded. He cleared his throat as he continued. "It's not as bad as it sounds like though, " he said, as I chuckled. "Until you face Kanbee?" I asked as Toshiie chuckled. "He just makes it hard. Which is helpful when taking on guards," he explained.

I took a deep breath as I finished cleaning the dishes and started to dry them. I stood facing Toshiie as I took a deep breath. "Is it ok to admit that I'm scared to start fighting?" I asked as he turned to me. "Yeah, but fear is a good thing. And that fear is why you attacked Yukimura," he said, as I bent my head to hide the embarrassment. "Why do you all bring that up?" I asked as he chuckled. "Because it made us proud to hear that. Even though you never actually learned any fighting at all," he explained as I looked up again. "But I didn't know what he was gonna do. I thought I was gonna die," I said, as Toshiie chuckled. "And that's just it. The Sanada army is our allies, but there are armies out there that would probably kill you. But Yukimura usually helps out anyone that needs it. He wouldn't kill anyone if he didn't think it was necessary," he explained. I dried my glass as I nodded. "They were nice though, even when I was defending myself," I said, as I started to put my dishes away. Toshiie sighed. "Yeah, we were lucky that you ran into them. But don't think anyone is nice out there. You still have to be on guard though," he said as I nodded. "Oh, I know. I knew when the Oda Army attacked my parents camp that day," I said, as I thought about that day.

I thought about my actual parents and if they made it out of the fighting or not. I lowered my bowl as I took a deep breath. "I wonder what happened to them," I said, more to myself than to him. Toshiie turned to study me better. "To who? Your real parents?" he asked as I nodded. "Yeah. Wonder if they made it out of there or not," I said as Toshiie sighed. "We don't know what happened. They've abandoned the camp when we checked it out," he said, as I sighed. I picked up my glass as I continued to dry and put away the dishes. "It's ok. I'm safer here anyway," I said. "I probably wouldn't even recognize them anyway. I don't really remember them," I said, as Toshiie glanced over at me. "You don't remember your human parents?" he asked as I shrugged. "Not really. I know that they are humans, seeing how I am human. But other than that, all I remember for a family is the army," I said, as I shrugged. "I dunno, for all that I know, I could even have siblings out in the world somewhere. But I never met them if I did," I said, as I looked over at Toshiie. "Would that be something that dad would know?" I asked as Toshiie shrugged. "I dunno. When we found you, it was only you around that area. No one ever came back to the camp when we were around," he said, as I whipped my last dish. "I dunno. But all I know is that I'm safe and that's all I need to worry about. Right?" I asked as I started to drain the sink. "Right. We'll keep you safe, that's not gonna change," he said with a smile. I chuckled as I folded my towel and took a deep breath. "Alright. I'm ready for this training," I said, as we both started to walk out.