"Long time no see, Ryu-san" The man says
"Same... Haruki of the seven prince, I see you haven't changed a bit" Ryujin laughs
"That's a harsh thing to say to your old friend" Haruki pouts
"But I sure miss those good old days, Ryu-san" He chips in
"Sure, and now we are enemies, how cruel can fate be" Ryujin sighs
"Right?? since we are enemies now, we have no choice than to fight" Haruki draws out his Katana
"Yasushi, you and Himawari should take care of that arrow guy, Tatsuya and Ineyo take care of that one, this guy's mine" Ryujin commands
"Yes Captain!!!" They focused on the enemy before them.
Tatsuya and Ineyo opponent a man in his early 20s and long red hair he tied with a rubber band to make a small pony tail, he has a scar running up to down his left cheek.
He smiles and calls them to follow him to another place
"Here is too small, we will only get in their way" He smiles and directs them deeper into the woods.
When they had reached a satisfactory point they came to a stop. The man sits down on the ground and lean on a tree
*grin
"My name is Kenta of the seven prince, that it is" He introduces himself, Tatsuya and Ineyo remains on guard. Kenta looks at their face and laughs
"You hate it don't you?, the blood, the cries, the final words, everything, don't you?" He says
"And what if we say we don't" Ineyo replies
"I'm not new to wars little miss, I've killed alot and I hate it too, I want it to end" Kenta bends down his face in grieve
"So what's your deal" Tatsuya asks
"Oh nothing, nothing at all, I just wanted to tell you my thought about the war" He replies.
Tatsuya removes his katana Ineyo dis the same
"Being violent??" Kenta stands up and removes his katana
"In the Shimazu clan there is a Swordsman style called Mitsu-ryu" Kenta says flexing his katana, Tatsuya and Ineyo were confused, why would he be talking about a swords style they don't to know and care about
"It basically focus on the flexibility of you weapon it's a technique in which one can bend his iron blade, isn't that impossible?? you might ask, but yes it is" Kenta dash towards Tatsuya and slice downwards, Tatsuya raises his katana up to block it but was marveled when the katana bends to the side and Kenta goes for a side hit.
*clank
Ineyo blocks the attack, Kenta leaps back
"Thanks Ineyo..."
"No problem" She replies
'That's katana really bent, what was that....'
"It did not bend" Ineyo says
"Seriously??" Tatsuya asks
"Yes, seeing it from up close like you just did looks like it bent, but it didn't, I'm still suprise myself, his hand muscles are so strong to move like that, What you saw was the after image, you focused too much on the sword tip that you didn't look at his hands" Ineyo summarises everything
'Was she this smart' Tatsuya was flabbergasted
"Correct little miss!!!" Kenta shouts
"Now you know the flaw, what will you do about it?"
"Sorry to say this Ineyo-chan, but can you leave this guy to me" Tatsuya raises up his sleeves
'I'm sorry Mikoto-san but I'll have to fight without it'
Tatsuya removes his arm bracelets its hit the floor making a huge crater
"Oh oh, interesting..." Kenta dash towards Tatsuya, but this time making a double curve, from upwards then left to right but Tatsuya carefully observes and dodge everything but sustained a little cut on his chest ruining the Yukata, he didn't care about.
"Nice moves" Kenta claps
Hahaha.... Tatsuya laughs but this time an evil laugh
"So that's the trick?" Tatsuya stretches his hands and begins to wiggle it, just like that the sword joins his hand and begins to wiggle
"...But that's not all..." Tatsuya stops the wiggle
"...if I only wiggle like that I'll never land an attack, in other words, I have to maintain a constant motion while wiggling, hahahaha" Tatsuya laughs
'Its just like the pen magic trick on earth, you hold the end of a pen and begin to m9ve your hand up and down until the pen begin to bend, it just basically creating and illusion, I guess she is dumb after all' Tatsuya looks at Ineyo
'Not entirely...'
"Then what are the counter measures?" Kenta asks
"That's the sweetest part, there's non or i don't know"
Tatsuya answers
"Huh, What do you mean you have non?" Kenta asks again
"Just like I said, I have no idea about the counter, all I have do is kick your ass" Tatsuya grins and dash forward
'I won't give you the opportunity to shake your hands like that'
Tatsuya and give multiple slashes, Kenta dodges all of them
"You hand movement is now faster than usual, was it those bracelets you removed" Kenta kick backwards evading and slash
"Hmmm?? Who knows, maybe it's them, maybe it's not" Tatsuya answered and moves again
Both of them were evenly matched, but Tatsuya was taking the offensive by not allowing him to move freely and pinned him on defense
"You are strong, but lack in swordplay. You just slash like a savaged barbarian you lack good Swordsmandship"
"Does that matter??? Why matters is if the enemy is dead"
Kenta kicks back and lands on a tree branch. He then flies down and lands behind Tatsuya
"Well my mission here is done, I'll be heading back to base" Kenta says
"What do you mean" Tatsuya asks
"The seven princes want to end this war, that's all I can say, farewell" He disappears into the bush
Tatsuya fell on the ground to catch a breath he was exhausted.
Meanwhile, Haruki and Ryujin were having a one on one chat
"So you are indirectly betraying your clan" Ryujin asks
"No, rather I see it as saving it" Haruki answered
"Your plan is a risky one, but it's the only choice, I'll try my best not to get in your way" Ryujin stands up and leaves
"Thank you"
That same day In the night, the 8th Division were in their meeting tents, they had their wounds tended to, and were now discussing battle plans
"So was it your plan?" Yasushi asks
"Yes, Hojo clan, are known for one battle strategy, a cunny one, they split there Squads in half and give you the impression that you are winning an then, they kill you with the second squad, in other words the first squad are the scapegoats" Ryujin summaries
"So that's why you told the Sumurai Commander to wait behind with half of the Army?" Himawari asks
"Yes but this time I used the Commander as a scapegoat, in a squad or an army they can't be two leaders, I needed to weed him out" Ryujin says with a serious expression
"But it didn't work out, he was strong, I underestimated him" He adds
"Well that's it for today..." Ryujin stands up and looked at Tatsuya and Ineyo
"You did well" He complemented them
"Me too me too, Captain praise me!!!" Himawari jumps on him but he just grabs her and throws her away
After Yasushi, Ryujin and Tatsuya left the tent, only Tatsuya and Ineyo remained
"Neh, Tatsuya-kun" Ineyo called Tatsuya's attention
"Hmm?"
"When will it end, when will this war end" She sobs
Tatsuya sighs and bends his hair
"I don't know too" He answered
"There was a man I killed today, I wanted to make it clean as Captain said, but I missed and it landed on his shoulder, he screamed alot. As I went to deliver the finishing blow...." She sobs more
"He begged for his life, he said he has and unborn kid waiting for him at home....Thats not all" She cleans her tears and continued
"I left him alone to face another person....but he grab his weapon and aimed for my head, I had no choice....Tatsuya-kun I had no other choice!!!" She cried and lean on him
"I see... you killed him? Well that's how war works, All we have to do is survive" Tatsuya says and hugs her tightly