Ikemen Sengoku: Nobunaga Oda

Chapter 9

Mai: "And if I don't win a single game?"

Nobunaga: "Every time you lose a game, I will claim a part of your body as my own. I will have you willingly submit to me, piece by piece, until I've conquered you completely."

Mai: "If that's how you're going to be, then I'm not taking your bet."

Nobunaga: "If you don't agree, you won't be going back in three months. I'll lock you deep in the dungeons of Azuchi and keep you there."

*-*-*

Time passed pretty quickly. I counted the days left in my head, unhappy at the number I came up with.

Mai: "I've got a little less than half a month left."

Nobunaga: "I see." In the beginning I was okay with using him, just like he was using me, until I could win my way back to the present. Is that what's bothering him? That I'll have to leave soon? My heart was begging me not to leave Nobunaga. I swallowed down my emotions and forced a smile.

Mai: "You know, we'll need to work in another game of Go. I still have to beat you!"

Nobunaga: "No, you don't. I'm done."

Mai: "What do you mean, you're done?"

Nobunaga: "I mean just that. The bet is over. I've grown tired of it." He's grown tired? Nobunaga looked into the fire with forlorn eyes. Okay, something's really gotten into him!

Mai: "Come here. You're not feeling well, are you?"

Nobunaga: "What?"

Mai: "You love teasing people. There's no way the Nobunaga Oda I know would say that." This afternoon he was strangely quiet. "Pardon me. You're going to think this is a little strange." I extended a hand out and placed it against his forehead.

Nobunaga: "?!" Okay, he doesn't have a fever. "What are you doing?"

Mai: "I'm checking your temperature."

Nobunaga: "Why?"

Mai: "Why? Because I'm worried you might be sick. Either that or you've been replaced by an imposter when I wasn't looking."

Nobunaga: "An imposter? You're truly beyond my ability to understand."

Mai: "Am I really?"

Nobunaga: "No." The heat cooled in his eyes. "You surprising me is nothing new. But this time-- I pushed you down and had you at my mercy, yet you were still worried about me?" Staring at me coldly, he laughed.

Mai: "What's so funny?"

Nobunaga: "A woman who cares about me and doesn't seek to gain from it. I thought you couldn't possibly get any more naïve." Arg! It's like one step forward, a thousand aggravating steps back!*

Mai: "Are people not allowed to worry about you? Maybe I should send a memo to Hideyoshi!"

Nobunaga: "I don't see why YOU worry about me."

Mai: "Do you want me to go down the list? You saved my life, what, four times now? There was arrows, the assassin, the poison! Yes, Ieyasu told me about that! Even Kennyo knew! And last night. You rushed out to save me, again!"

Nobunaga: "That was...different. I didn't intend to save you. I acted without thinking."

Mai: "Oh, where have I heard that before? That's right, it was me!" It wasn't frustration or anger that moved me to speak, it was desperation. "You know Nobunaga, this may surprise you, but I'm happy when you're happy. And when you're sad, I'm sad. So what I'm saying is-- It's my choice if I want to be worried about you!"