A Return, A Tour... and a test?

[TAKAMI SHIRO]

The trip was long, but Shiro was someone who'd try to make it a bit interesting. He tried to keep Nakigahara entertained on their way back to Taonori Bay, but he wasn't sure if he was successful or not. He thought he made a bit of leeway with her, or at least that she was enjoying herself, while she laughed most of the ride. This thought was brushed to the side when she decked him again, punching his square in the jaw.

As they neared the shore, the mercenary could see the beach, the town buildings, and his fort on the horizon. He grinned at the sight, a bit proud. He helped the town from its small development. It was just a regular fishing town with little to no income until Shiro came along. He made his men find refuge in the town itself rather than the fortress he built. The men contributed to the town by buying foods and goods, while working occasional jobs for the town itself.

The town had multiple ports for men and women to go out and fish. The ports were filled with the fishing boats and had a couple of trade boats so that the fish mongers could try their luck elsewhere. The fortress nearly blended in with the town.. aside form the large thick walls. It had many different places for the soldiers: a firing range for his men to practice their marksmanship, a study for them to learn battle procedures, and a courtyard for the men to do physical training, including sparring.

Once the boat made landfall, Shiro stood from the boat and grabbed her bag for her. He stood next to the boat, waiting on her to get out and slung the bag over his shoulder, a yawn coming from him. He eyed the red-tressed samurai, still astounded by her hair. "Well, welcome to Taonori Bay, Nakigahara-san." He said with a bit of a lighter tone.

[NAKIGAHARA JUN]

So they were finally at Taonori Bay, and needless to say it was a bit... bright. Well at least it was brighter than she was used to--even though she lived in a clearing for all this time most light from the sun and moon was blocked by very tall trees. Nakigahara shields her eyes from the sunlight taking in the scenery. It was definitely a very nice place, small, independent, and most importantly quiet. She would have to grow used to the sounds of children playing, which right now sounded more like nails on a chalkboard to her.

But onto more pressing matters... Nakigahara had traveled further in the past few days than she ever had, even during her days as a Samurai of the state she stayed within a relatively small region. She was exhausted. And cranky. And before she would note on the beautiful town she would make her troubles known.

“A bed. I want to sleep. In a bed.”

Now when Jun spoke of a bed, she really just meant a dark room with a pillow, which was what she had grown accustomed to over time. She wanted to crash, probably to sleep for a few hours.

[TAKAMI SHIRO]

Shiro watched the woman's reactions and just stood there. It wasn't until she commented on wanting a bed that Shiro moved closer to her. The tall mercenary nudged the rounin with her bag and started to walk in the other direction, towards the fort. "This way. I didn't expect to have someone come back with me, so I'll let you use my bed until you've rested enough. By the time you awaken you'll have your own."

As they walked through the town, Shiro and the civillians interacted occasionally, though mostly it was a quick greeting. Occasionally there would be men that would straighten their posture in front of Shiro and bow respecftfully. It would be clear to the woman that he was more than just a mercenary now.

As they reached the fortress, Shiro opened the door for Nakigahara. He sighed and put her bag down next to the bed and he walked back out of the room and stood in the doorway. "Get your rest. When you wake up, I'll show you around."

[NAKIGAHARA JUN]

Jun’s eye was heavy, and her vision was blurred as she followed him into his fortress, far to tired to notice anything about the people and how he interacted with them. She would be using ‘his bed’ she could hardly imagine a place where there were so many beds to be had.

Before he could even finish his sentence, she fell face first into the bed, and upon laying on its soft mattress, she almost instantaneously fell asleep in the most awkward of positions, with her rear end in the air, as though she were frozen in place. She snored loudly.

[TAKAMI SHIRO]

Watching the woman collapse on his bed, made Shiro a bit uncomfortable. He chuckled quietly as he heard her start to snore and smiled. He walked over to the bed and carefully put her body in a more comfortable position so she wouldn't be sore when she woke. After making sure that she was in a better position the man walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

He didn't let any of his men near his room while she slept. He was in the room next to his, which was his personal library, working on it to try and make it suitable for someone to reside in. A lot of his books on battle formation and strategy were packed into a box that was on the wall next to the door to his room. He worked diligently on the room, even putting the bed in on his own.

He stood in the door way of the room as he finished and looked over it. A smile came to his face, thinking how well he had done in such a short amount of time. All that was left was for her to unpack her things into the room. "There we go.. this should do it." He said aloud to himself. He walked back into the area between the two rooms and sat on the ground, dozing off against the wall.

[NAKIGAHARA JUN]

Hours later an obnoxious yawn rattled the halls of the fortress as Jun began to stir, stretching her arms outward and groaning as she did. She looked around in a slight panic, having already forgotten that she was not in at Setsugetsuka shrine, the place where she had spent so much of her time. Upon regaining her senses, she stood up, stretching once more.

As her bare feet made contact with the wooden floor it made a creaking sound, a sound that continued as she walked around the room, poking around at things. Her kimono was held loosely to her body now, by a belt which had all but come undone in her wild sleep. Her hair was also a mess.

She looked to he left and her right for her belonging, which we not in her field of sight... she could really use a shot of her sake at the moment... to calm the anxiety.

“Bakayarou!” she exclaimed, “Where’s my drink?”

[TAKAMI SHIRO]

Shiro stirred as he heard the floor creak, his light sleep being interrupted by the sound. She must be awake. He thought to himself as he stood up. Before he knew it, she was yelling out her nick name for him. He scratched the back of his head as he grabbed her bag, "I told you..," The man's voice was a lot deeper than usual because of him just waking up, "My name is Takami, Shiro."

The man opened the door with her bag in his other hand. He blinked as he noticed the looseness of her kimono. His initial reaction was subtle, his eyebrows raised in shock at the sight and before thirty seconds had passed, the man handed Nakigahara her bag. He assumed her drink would be in the bag and he yawned. "When you're done I'll be outside."

The man ducked his head a bit to exit the fortress and stood watch as his men were in the courtyard training. He crossed his arms, watching their forms and how they corrected each other, a smile creeping to his face at the bond the men were forming amongst each other.

[NAKIGAHARA JUN]

She shrugged, she had already heard his real name, she chose to call him by such a wretched name not out of ignorance but out of desire. “What ever you say Takami Shiro-san...” She said sarcastically grinning slightly that he seemed bothered by it.

When Shiro left the room, she proceeded to unwrap he kimono, letting it fall open as she fixed and adjusted the belt, wrapping it tightly. Once more she stretched out her arms before she headed outside. She heard the sound of wooden swords clashing, the men outside were training, more like an army than a rag tag band of mercenaries. And what of this nice fortress? If these guys were mercenaries, they must be expensive ones.

“So these are your guys, huh?” She said in a low voice which didn’t seem particularly impressed.

[TAKAMI SHIRO]

As he waited, Shiro's impatience that usually came with just waking up faded. His posture straightened and he stood to his full height once again. He kept watching his soldiers and laughed occasionally. His men were a bit amusing to him, even on their last job.

The mercenary had loosened his katana from his sash and taken his musket from his back and set them against a wall and grabbed two wooden swords. He started walking towards the men until he heard the voice of his guest. He stopped in his tracks and turned his head to look at her, a smile on his face. "Morning sleeping beauty. Yes these are my guys. They specialize with muskets... but I'm getting them in the swing of using blades as well. Our enemies won't be at a distance the entire time."

He looked from her to his men again and blinked before looking back to Nakigahara. "So, Nakigahara-san.. Wanna take a tour? Or would you like a quick spar... to wake you up." He said with a grin as his soldiers stopped their drills at the sound of a woman's voice. Half of them looked confused as to where the woman came from and the others were more interested as to why their boss would challenge her to a spar.

[NAKIGAHARA JUN]

A tour? The last thing she wanted was to look around such a place... if she wanted to look around the city she could do it herself without the slow pace. She had a decent sense of direction, and would be able to find her way back when she explored on her own time. But a sparring session would be much more intriguing. She had yet to see what kind of swordsman he was, and now would be a good chance to determine this.

“You? Want to spar? With me?” She grinned, leaning on some wooden railing and turning to face him. “Let’s do it then, and when we’re done you will be the real ‘sleeping beauty’!” She said as she went to the room which held her things. “I don’t plan on losing.”

She stepped down to the level of the training men, pointing out the seven most immediate ones. “You, you, you, you, you, you, and you! Give me your toy swords. I’m about to embarrass your boss.” The men through their wooden swords at her feet, each of which made a hollow clank as it touched cobblestone. She put six of them in her belt, holding one in her hand, tapping it on the ground to gather attention.

“Gather ‘round and take notes! The Shichinihonto no Samurai is about to put on a clinic!” Her arrogance oozed out of every orifice as she motioned for Shiro to come down.

[TAKAMI SHIRO]

The leader of the fort blinked as he saw this new side to the woman. If there was one way to annoy the man, a cocky attitude was a sure fire way to do it. He wasn't sure if her intent was to come off as cocky... but it did to him. The men could tell as they threw her their weapons with a chuckle. One even went to grab Shiro's musket and handed it to him.

Without a thought, Shiro grabbed the musket and watched as she set her weapons up. Six swords in her sash... one in hand.. this should be interesting. He thought to himself. He pointed the barrel of his musket at a target and fired, emptying his barrel so she wouldn't have to worry about a stray bullet piercing her.

"You're a confident one huh? You haven't heard of any skill your opponent may have and you boast of your own." The mercenary smiled at the woman, though the feeling behind it was different than usual. He held his empty musket in his left hand and his wooden sword in his right. He stood with his arms out to his sides at forty-five degree angles. His weapons in a downward slant, the ends pointing at the same point in front of him, his elbows slightly bent, "Well... I'm waiting on my first lesson."

The man's eyess were locked with hers, a grin planted on his face. He had a feeling from her previous boasting that this would be a bit of a burn to her pride of she lost, which put him at ease. Losing was nothing to him, he had lost to each of his men in spars before as well. Well.. time to see if this is a good day for me. He thought.

[NAKIGAHARA JUN]

Arrogance wasn’t the word to describe Jun... her overconfidence in herself went so far to the point of delusion, which was often a personality trait of hers which got her into trouble from time to time. The ronin had always been known for writing checks that she couldn’t check--but in this little sparring session the consequences would be no more than a bruised ego... a badly bruised ego that had to live here for the next few months... maybe she shouldn’t have said all those things she said...

Tapping her foot impatiently, she waited for Shiro to make his way down, of course he had something to say about her pompous attitude. “I don’t care about what skills you have, I know where I stand. After this you will find that I’m not just confident, I’m right.” She grinned, she could tell that her attitude irked him by the look on his face.

She opened her left eye, which was pale in comparison to her right and could see little more than dark blotches, to add to her depth perception so that her strikes would land true. Narrowing her gaze as she locked eyes with the mercenary.

She slid her front foot forward, easing her way down into a stance, and holding her sword at her side in a sheathed position. She would be much lighter carrying wooden blades as opposed to steel.

[TAKAMI SHIRO]

Shiro watched the woman for a moment. Seeing how she just stood there. She's a defensive fighter. He thought to himself. An interesting style of fighter to duel from his experience. They preferred to make their opponent to tire himself out and counter most of the attacks that came their way. Shiro knew how difficult these kind of fighters could be.

However, Shiro had a bit of an advantage in the situation. The woman didn't have her variety of swords. All of the wooden swords were the length of an average katana, since his men were being trained to use the katana other than their musket. Also, the large mercenary had a large wingspan to accompany his unusual height.

The musketeer brought his right arm across his body and raised his left arm a bit so that they wouldn't touch and lunged forward, judging his stride to be so the woman was within his reach. Once within reach the man brought his right arm back over, bringing his wooden blade across in a horizontal "slice", his left hand braced to move in defense, as his style intended.

[NAKIGAHARA JUN]

As she awaited his first move, she sank deeper into her stance, feeling abnormally light and slightly unbalanced do to the wooden swords and their all being even in length, a sensation at her sides that she was unfamiliar to--though the feeling was certainly welcome, she felt lighter than she ever had carrying all seven blades, and though it felt awkward she was ready for this spar.

Finally, Shiro rushed at her with a horizontal strike across her body. His movement was relatively quick, but she was able to parry with the wooden sword in her hand, forcing his momentum downward towards the ground, dropping this particular wooden sword at its lowest point, quickly drawing another sword from her belt and propelling herself forward with an upward strike.

[TAKAMI SHIRO]

The mercenary wasn't surprised as the rounin parried his attack. He expected something to that effect from someone who boasted of their skill. He tensed his arm to regain control of his movement before the blade completely hit the ground. Shiro was shocked to see the woman throw her wooden sword away and draw another. By the time she lunged for him, Shiro had control of his weapon again and held it out to his side.

As she brought her weapon up with a strike, Shiro brought his musket down, blocking the wooden weapon with the barrel of his treasured weapon and at the same time stepped back with his hind leg, bringing his right arm over his head and swinging it downwards towards the woman's left shoulder. The man had no intent on seriously hurting the woman, but if it did happen he would be sure to take care of whatever wounds he might deal her.

The soldiers gathered around fully now, surrounding the two in a circle. There was a murmur amongst the men, not knowing who would actually win. They were interested to see if the woman was superior to their boss and at the same time, wanted to see if their boss had acquired a better fighting sense by banding together with them.