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"Well, I suppose it can not be helped," she sighed again. Reclining into the hot, steaming waters, her eyes traced over Momo's form all over again. "Did you enjoy it earlier though? When I was massaging you?" she wondered out loud for the swordswoman to hear. Smiling again, she drifted over to her, delicate hands once again falling on her tense, stiff shoulders. "We could continue where we left off," the buxom woman whispered in the yojimbo's ears.

"It felt nice, my Lady." Momo blushed as the princess whispered in her ear. "I don't understand what you mean?" She replied softly, keenly aware of how close to the fence they were. She was trying to listen to what was happening on the other side of the fence as well as focus on the princess. However, everything else seemed to fade away as the princess drew near with those hands of hers. Kneading into her, she once again melted away all of Momo's troubles.

"Like this," Tsumami oh-so-innocently explained. Drawing near, the swordswoman could feel the silky touch of the princess as the woman pressed against her back. "Does that feel good too?" she pondered, slowly searching Momo of all her little spots. Like someone testing the waters, Tsumami's fingers first gently touched here and there, but soon began to wander. "I hope you aren't too sensitive around here? Hm?" the seductive princess tried next.

Momo leaned against the princess as her hands wandered across her body, the flush never fading from her fair skin. No one had touched her like this before and she wasn't sure what to do. "M..m..y.. lady," she whispered pleadingly.

"Oh? Did you like that?" the princess continued to smile all so knowingly. "Then, how abouuuuut, right here?" she wondered, hands sinking lower. Being so close, Momo could feel her royal breath against the back of her ear as she was brought to recline against a soft and pillowy warmth.

A soft moan escaped from Momo's lips as Tsumami worked her magic with her hands over her body. Her voice carried a little further than she intended through the fence. As though on cue, it all came tumbling down, the bamboo wall falling to reveal the rugged forms of manly mercenaries. As they had all pressed up against it to hear, their collective weight had brought it down. The young master however, sat in his onsen alone, less than impressed by his men's antics.

"Ara, ara~" the princess mildly exclaimed with delight, shielded from sight by the inadvertantly protective Momo.

Momo rose and drew her sword at the crash with a jolt. Her face turned bright red. "What is wrong with all of you? Do not dishonor the princess and the young master by spying on her!" The flush on her skin deepened as she realized she was getting a large eyeful of strong male bodies. She held her sword and scabbard in a death grip. "Shoo!" As the men panicked and ran out, the young master himself sighing with disappointment,

The princess whispered in her ear, "I think they were spying on you, Momo-chan." Intimately tickling her ear with her warm breath.

Without taking another glance at Momo or the princess, the young master simply turned his head and coughed before grabbing a wash bucket, and standing up out of the water, made his way out with great dignity.

After he was gone however, the princess dared ask, "So. Did you like what you saw?"

"You are getting me into so much trouble, my Lady," Momo grumpily replied as she sheathed her sword and averted her gaze from the young master as he departed. "They are fine fighting men with sadly human vices.." She sighed, "Do you wish to stay longer, my Lady?"

"Oh, whatever do you mean?" Tsumami smiled.

Rising from the water once more, Momo lead the way. Once they were dried and dressed again, the two rested and relaxed, eating mochi as the men worked hard to hold the unsteady mortar while taking turns pounding the rice. Eventually, the great globs of chewy goodness were the size of melons as they collapsed from the effort.

Momo enjoyed the mochi and tried to avoid making eye contact with the mercenaries that had exposed themselves to her, keeping her hand lingering on the grip of her katana. As night drew to a close however, both Momo and the Princess were called to the young master's quarters. Sliding the door open for them to enter, Daichi gestured for them both to enter before taking a seat.

"We still have a long journey ahead of us, so you'll have to forgive me princess - I will not have the mercenaries executed for their transgression," he apologized, bowing his head. Daichi wasn't speaking to Momo of course - with the way the young master treated her, it was clear that he hardly thought of her as a woman anyways, and this simply showed it. "Moving on to a matter of equal importance however, we must choose the next steps of our journey carefully."

"Yes, Yamato-san. I think if we avoid the mountains we'll add another week on the journey but if take the mountain path, we run the danger of being bottlenecked or ambushed from above if there are more bandits in the region. The mountains would also make it harder for the carriages to travel. The horses should be able to carry us that far but we should stop at this town over here," Aoki pointed to a small marker on the map, a valley town beside a lake, her body incidentally brushing against the young master's as she discussed their path.

"We can rest there and refresh our water supply. We should repair the other carriage but I fear we will lose more time." As Momo spoke, the princess had prepared an ink well and paper for the young master, from whom he took the brush with a warm and sunny smile despite the circumstances.

"With the recent attack, it's best we hurry on our journey to leave behind any potential pursuers by cutting through the mountains," Daichi decided. Despite his words however, he finished writing with the brush and held it up for both Momo and Tsumami to see - the young master feared they were being spied on. It was best that they would take to the open roads, forcing any pursuers to 'go ahead' to the mountains to prepare. "I hope this is agreeable to you both?" he asked.

Any forces that did manage to reroute, he wrote to them, would be those mounted on horseback.

Aoki nodded. "Your will, my Lord." It was troubling that they were being spied on but not unheard of. People were making a profit from the war in armor and weapon production, as well as, food price inflation. She would have to be on guard more now than she was before.

"Good," he replied.