Move Like the Light [Musou|Shou]

[Oda Nobunaga]

Shou would wake up with a terrible headache, and he was in rags. The floor beneath him was simply dirt, and all around him were stone walls. His body was cut up, bleeding, and he could swear at least two of his fingers and two of his toes were broken. His armor was all gone, and it seemed he was in a cell. Perhaps he was captured during a recent courier run, though he's groggy on the specifics.

"Wake up, Takeda scum," a man spoke, throwing a stone through the iron gate and pelting Shou right in the forehead. "You won't be getting any rest for a while. On your feet."

[Yamabara Shou]

Shou awoke sharply as the stone hit him. Body in pain from whatever happened. He did a mental check over his body, while being locked here didn't look good. It wasn't as bad as it could be. Last time he had been in a situation like this, he had a broken arm. This time it was fingers and toe, annoying. It impaired him, but no where near as much.

Forcing himself on to his feet as the man demanded, he brought a handful of dirt with him. Shou assumed the guy was Uesugi. He couldn't think of another group that hated the Takeda. Even though in pain Shou would once standing, stand there with as much pride as he could muster. H wouldn't show weakness here. "Why have you got express message for me to deliver?" Shou asked with a grin, annoying his captors had worked before, he just hoped this guy was as stupid. 

[Oda Nobunaga]

The man seemed to pay very little mind to Shou's snarky attitude. Instead, he took a rice cake wrapped in leaves in his hand and threw it through the gate at Shou's face!

"Eat up. Thirty seconds. Then you've got someone who wants to see you."

[Yamabara Shou]

Shou caught the rice ball with the hand that was good. He was hungry and doubted the man had been lying about the time limit. He took a small bite, expecting some form of taste differance due to some drug or posion. If none was present, pride be damned he would eat it as quickly as he could. If he had to escape being hungry was a bad plan.

[Oda Nobunaga]

Shou would find it was not poisoned! The leaf on it was, in fact, to give it flavor, and it tasted damn good for prison food. Not long after he finished, the gate would be unlocked, the guard would step inside, and Shou would find a large iron rod crashing into the side of his knee.

"Go on! Move!"

He was being directed outside of the cell, and out of the prisoners' area. Taking him by the wrist, a wooden door would be kicked open and the guard would throw Shou out onto the dirt, the sun almost blinding him. He would find himself surrounded by guards.

[Yamabara Shou]

Shou was glad when the cell opened, he was going to be given a better chance of escape now the guard was the problem. However Shou reaction due to his state where too slow. He would be smashed in the leg and told to move. Not having the chance to flee yet he would obey.

Being thrown to the ground outside the light after the sheltered in doors was blinding, however he could still see enough to know he was surrounded. Shou would rush to his feet, he wouldnt stand a chance on the floor if they felt like hurting him. Not that standing would be much better in his weaponless and wounded state.

[Oda Nobunaga]

Shou would feel the iron rod from before pressing into his back. The men surrounding him would move out of the way, just so he could walk forward.

"Move."

He wasn't told which direction to move in, but it was logical to assume "forward." There were a good deal of tents out that way, and there happened to be a rather large one just a few meters ahead of him. It looked important.

[Yamabara Shou]

Thought flickered through Shou mind as he walked forward toward the important looking tent. If it became clear that they didn't intend to let him live he would have to fight back and that metal rod was easily the nearest weapon to him right now. Even being poked in the back pointed out how close the man was. 

As they came to the tent, Shou wondered who wanted to see him after his capture. He had yet to figured out who these men wear and Shou eyes looked around the camp for some form of indication of who they were.

[Oda Nobunaga]

As he approached the tent, Shou would find the rod jabbed into his kidney before he was kicked inside. Within, he would see a man bearing the mon of the Miki, the faction in the territory just northwest of the Takeda.

"Takeda boy... Does your lord know where you are, right now?"

[Yamabara Shou]

Shou would grunt in pain as the rod hit him in the back and he was kicked inside. He would see what he assumed was there leader wearing a symbol of their force, he knew it and of the territory they controlled but not much beyond that. The man asked him a question, and Shou realized he didn't know the answer, things were still fuzzy. He could't remember how or where he had been when he was taken or where exactly he was now. However admitting this seemed like a bad idea. 

"My lord is smart, if he doesn't he will figure it out quickly. What do you want with me? Why have you taken me prisoner?" Shou would deflect the question as best he could before asking his own. Wishing that he was still outside, as it would have been easier to flee, rather then being surrounded by the walls of the tent. 

[Oda Nobunaga]

The man smiled, not answering any questions Shou had. Instead, he stood to his feet, walking over to a furnace.

"As I'm sure you know, both of our territories share a border with the Uesugi." He seemed to muse, taking a prod from the furnace and nodding, before placing it back inside. "It is my belief that, should my people assist the Uesugi in the demise of the Takeda, that we would split the territory and gain half of Shinano. That would be nice for us, don't you think?"

With a smile, the man walked over to Shou, patting him on the head. "You're going to tell me everything you know about your lord. Tactics, troop size and location, all the works. Or I kill you."

[Yamabara Shou]

This was not good. Not just bad as he had thought but beyond terrible. The man was asking for something he wouldn't give, but Shou had no desire to die, not yet. The idea of these men helping the Uesugi against the Takeda infuriated him but he kept the feeling down. The pat on his head, like he was a dog making it hard to have done so. It was time to not deflect but tell the absolute truth and lie all at the same time.

"I'm a courier, I deliver messages that's it. I know where the camps I delivery to are, but I'm sure you could discover that. As for tactic, we Takeda are famed for are horsemanship, I'm sure however that you already knew." Shou said given up only thing the man may already, he was being difficult but put on a tone of honesty and fear as best he could. 

[Oda Nobunaga]

As Shou spoke, the man would nod, returning to the furnace. "I don't want to discover them myself, that defeats the purpose of a knowledgeable preemptive strike. See, you know where they are, but you won't tell me." He would pull the prod from the furnace, returning to Shou. Taking a seat on his throne right in front of the courier, he would smile once again.

"I'll give you... one more shot."

[Yamabara Shou]

Shou listened as the man spoke, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to bluff his way free. However he wasn't going to let go of his loyalty. He eyed the poker, heated and obvious means to torture information out of someone. It did not seem the man, planned to kill him as quickly as he implied. Which made sense, why kill a source of info if you could potential make them break.

"I will tell someone at the Uesugi feet nothing." Shou spat, before breathing inwards and calming himself as he expected the pain to quickly follow. All he had to do was not break, long enough for someone to hopefully come to his aid. And hopefully that aid, or some means of escape would come before the man grew to impatience and did just have Shou killed.

[Oda Nobunaga]

The Miki man let out a light-hearted laugh, and so too did his men. But before Shou would feel any burning sensation, he would be met with a strong kick to his nose, breaking it and sending him backward. The man would walk forward, still smiling. "You woulda talked, we would've let you and your friends we've got live the rest of your lives in peace, still in Shinano or Kai, just under the banner of Miki or Uesugi. But you had to play it tough, didn't you?" With a sigh, the man would place the prod against Shou's neck, burning the Mon of the Miki into the skin. Immediately after, a man would walk up with a blade, and cut Shou's head off.

And then, Shou would wake up back in the cell. "Wake up, Takeda scum." The same guard from before barked. Maybe he'd see the forehead rock coming this time. "On your feet. You won't be getting any rest for a while."

[Yamabara Shou]

Shou was awake in a faction of a second, even before the guard finished talking he was getting to his feet. One hand clutched to his neck, a phantom feeling of pain. Something wasn't what it seemed here, what had just happened. He was back in the cell, same guard as before, same word. Well he might as well confuse the guard a little.

"You better take me to the Miki man at the main tent. No need for the rod." Shou would say, hoping the guard would be shocked at Shou realising where he was so quickly. Shou couldn't help but wonder what had happened, but had no insurance it would happen again. This was a second chance. 

[Oda Nobunaga]

The guard cocked a brow, cursing after Shou's remark. The single rice cake he was about to be given was thrown on the ground and stepped on. The guard ripped the gate open and slammed the rod into Shou's sides and legs, simply for making a demand.

For a second chance, he was already starting off bad.

Once he was in the sunlight, Shou would begin to feel a strange sensation overcoming him. If he was watching his feet, he could swear - just for a moment - they disappeared.

[Yamabara Shou]

Shou watched as the food was destroyed in front of him, that was annoying. Being pulled out, and beaten similar to the last time, Shou was thrown outside into the light. Looking down his eyes blurred, they must have done as he could have sworn that his feet had briefly not been there.

Maybe not getting the food this time round was leaving him weaker then he through. Shou would move on when instructed, much like before. However this time as they would reach the tent. Shou would dodge forward into the tent when the man tried to kick him inside. Best to avoid as much pain as possible with having eaten. 

[Oda Nobunaga]

As Shou jumped into the tent, it flapped open, and he would disappear! The guard ran in after him, but looked terribly confused! The man who'd branded him before looked curious, staring up at his guard with a raised eyebrow.

"... well go get him."
"I, I did, sir. I swear -"

And then they began to argue! The guard held open the flap of the tent, looking outside, but Shou was nowhere to be found! Turns out he's invisible.

[Yamabara Shou]

Well this was certainly odd, maybe he hadn't been imagining things earlier, Shou thought as he saw the men argue looking right through him. As silently as he could Shou would creep back past the guard to outside. Bright light greeting his eyes once more. Maybe now he could get away. Shou would quickly circle the tent so that he would be on the side opposite to where the entrance was and the guards that had escorted him over. 

He didn't know if this effect would last and getting out of sight seemed like a good idea still. Once he felt he was safe Shou would examine what of the camp he could see, looking for the shortest route out of the place to saftey. Also he had to warn those back home that the Miki planned to openly assist the Uesugi, that wasn't a good thing. 

[Oda Nobunaga]

Shou would find himself near the soldiers' tents! They stretched for a while, maybe a mile or so, before Shou would be in the clear. If he tried escaping, however, Shou would find his body returning to view!

He was forgetting all about the other Takeda soldiers the Miki man mentioned he held in his camp!

[Yamabara Shou]

Shou saw how large the camp was, and didn't really like it, but like this escape would be easy. However when he broke away from the tent intending to leave, he realised that his feet were slowly coming back into view. What ever god had granted him this shroud from others eyes did not want him leaving but why. Shou returned to his hiding spot and thought through what had happened so far. 

By the gods, the man had mentioned others before he had been killed, that thought of dying causing him to wince. Hoping that invisibility would come back and last, Shou headed for where had originally been held, maybe these others were also inside and he just hadn't been in a position to see them.

[Oda Nobunaga]

Shou would make it back to where he was held, but by now the guards were already on alert, searching everywhere for the courier! Someone even bumped into him, but given that he was invisible, the man just thought he tripped!

Where he was being held, Shou would find fifteen cells, each holding a Takeda soldier. Inside the prison, there were five guards watching the prisoners.

[Yamabara Shou]

Carefully Shou would cross the room, avoiding the guards and anything that may make noise before moving over to the nearest cell. Crouching down, Shou would look over at the guards. Before turning back to the cell and examine the look extremely closely in order to tell if he could get it open. It was unlikely, as he didn't have the tools and even he would make noise trying. 

Turning back to the guards Shou would look at them, each in turn. Especially around the waist region for hopefully a set of keys. Once he knew if one of the guards had the keys, Shou would have to find a weapon in case he was discovered. Looking around the room, Shou would try to find something, be it a sword or one of those metal rods he had been hit with before. If he found one, he would creep over to it, and gently take it by the handle, so as not to disturb it. Watching it he would hope that like himself it would vanish out of sight. 

[Oda Nobunaga]

Shou would find the man with the key was in the very center of the building, and the rod he'd been beaten with before was over by his cell!