Recent Posts

Oda:

1) Tokugawa Iemasa - Oda
2) Kyoya Naotora - Date
3) Amakusa Takehiro - Amakusa
4) Maki (as part of Tak's Fraction)
5) Ichimura Ryunosuke - Amakusa
6)Yamabara Shou - Takeda 
7) Gabriella Santos - Amakusa
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9)

Shou would her Yamada called out for him, and panic. Turning to see the man falling away. Keeping one hand on the reigns of his horse. "Yamada!" Shou exclaimed his hand shot and grabbed at Yamada's wrist. However he was to far gone, and Shou was pulled out the saddle after the other man. The pair would fall over the edge until the slack of the reigns snapped tight. Shou heard Gokaze, neigh in pain and effort but not move from the spot he stood, the strength and weight of the animal saving the pair of them. 

Hanging Shou would hold on to Yamada's wrist and the reigns with everything he could. Swinging slightly, Shou would use the moument to to lift Yamada and try to throw him back on to the edge of the cliff. However part way through, Shou body filled with pain, a arrow slamming into his lower back and piecing through. With a scream of pain, Shou would throw Yamada up. "Gokaze Heyah." He shouted slamming into the rock once more as arrow in his body snapping, as he would be dragged up the wall, it hurt but it was better then falling to his death when a a arrow or spear cause him to lose his grip. 

If Yamada hadn't managed to get up and mount the horse with in the time it took the horse to pull him up. Shou would grab the spy on the way pass. Turning onto his back, and pulling the spy atop him. Literally letting him be dragged away at speed by the horse, protecting Yamada from the pain and injury. 

(OOC: Changed up the situation making me the courier. As Brandon said it was okay, and it felt oh so right.)

Shou awoke darkness slowly lifting into dazzling light and pain. His legs felt heavy, his arm screamed at him in pain and he could barely see out of his right eye. He was cold, but not naked. Lucky for him, however the armour of the demon he had slowly come to rely on in a fight was elsewhere. As were obviously, his weapons. Shou forced himself to his feet, barely able to stand. One of his legs rattling as the chains around his ankle move with him.

“Well well… look who up. How does it feel you Takeda dog?” A soldier wearing Uesugi colours nonchalantly sat on a chair his feet propped up on a crate. Shou didn’t answer and instead checked on his left arm. He didn’t know much about medicine but he knew enough to be able to tell it was broken. He must have taken a blow to the head as well; the last thing he remembered was being on route to deliver a message.

“Oh I don’t know. How did it feel when you found out Lord Uesugi raped your mother like the dog she is.” Shou spat, literally doing so as he finished notice a little blood as he did. However the words had their intended effect. The double barrel of an insult, against his lord and mother, made the man draw his sword and approach him. There were no bars, as he was chained to the wall and the man quiet happily with a look that could kill came at him.

Against what were probably his orders, the man attacked him. Bring his sword down towards. Shou managed just about to side step the blade, grab the man’s wrist and with his good hand. Before the man could react Shou had him by the hair, and slammed his face into the wall, Shou was shackled to knocking him out cleanly. As quickly as he could Shou searched the man. Finding the keys to the chain, he let himself free before awkwardly stripping the other man and himself and exchanging their clothes. Chaining the guard up, and turning him so his head would be out of sight to anyone else who came into the room Shou, strapped on the guards weapon and put it away.

On unsteady feet, Shou left the building he had been keep in. Cradling his arm in the fold of the guard’s clothes, to hold his broken arm in a position that hurt less. Shou tried his best to make his shaky steps look like those of a soldier who had too much to drink. The ruse worked for a while, and Shou was able to slip past a few of the guard who had been nearby without them noticing who bad a state his was. Reaching another of the small building of the camp, Shou hid behind the wall. Resting his legs by leaning against it. It was hard to walk, let alone pretend to be a drunk. There was no way he was just running away either.

Suddenly a guard came round the corner, turned and looked at him in the face. “You’re no…” The guard started to say, but Shou had already pounced. Much like the guard inside he grabbed the man’s arm and pulled, but he didn’t stop. Shou spun the man and clamped a hand over his mouth before he could call for help. There was no way for him to draw the guard’s sword without letting go of the man and letting him shout. He had to take the man down quick and cleanly. Pushing a leg between the guard’s legs, he brought a knee up hard. The guard screamed wordless in to his hand, only a small murmur escaping. Turning on the spot in the moment of the guards distraction he slammed his head into the wall of the building he had been hiding next to. Still the man didn’t go down, but a second slam finished the job and the guard slumped to the ground.

Shou could hardly stand and move around, but he couldn’t leave the guard there alerting the camp to his escape. The one inside would probably get looked over by mistake, but out here that would not happen. Shou had to move him. Grabbing the knocked out guard by the arm Shou dragged him to the back of the building. Closing his right eye, which was blurring his vision before peaking round the corner. With no one ther Shou pulled the body inside as quickly as he could. The room was full of bed rolls, and Shou quickly pulled the man over to one and laid the sheet atop him, as if he was sleeping.

Heading back outside, Shou continued to do as he had been. Moving from building to building. Tent to tent. Resting where he could, until he felt he could continue to walk. Where guards could be avoided, Shou would do so. Waiting out of sight and letting the move on their way. However when they couldn’t be Shou forced himself back into the ruse of drunkenness. It was working; Shou could see a pen of horses up ahead if he could get to one. He be able to ride away, but how to do so without alerting the nearby guards.

Shou examine the area, his eye making the task much harder than it should have been. But he eventually noticed something that could cause at least one of the guards moving off. Two guards were by the horse, a crate between them and onto of it a bottle of sake. Sneaking closer around the back of some of the nearby tents, Shou picked up a stone from the ground. It took a long time to aim. With the eye he normally didn’t do so, but it was better than the blurred mess the other was in, and he couldn’t afford to miss. With a flick of his wrist and fingers, Shou let the small stone fly, catching the tip of the bottle and causing it to tip over.

Shou heard the curse from where he was hiding, as the bottle fell to the ground and shattered. The guard cursed again, heading off towards one of the buildings away from the Stables. Now alone Shou slowly creep as best he could behind the second guard, drawing the blade before he even got close. Behind the guard, Shou gritted his teeth together hard, as he forced his broken arm to do some work. He was going to hate himself for, but if he didn’t escape he was dead. Shou would clamp his bad hand over the man’s mouth and before the guy could struggle to knock the weakened arm away, bring the blade round and slit the man’s throat. Let the guy, and his broken arm drop. Shou quickly pulled open the crate, struggled to drop the man inside it, put the lid back on, before pushing the crate from where it was over the puddle of blood. Now that no one was near Shou quickly moved to the horse. Pulled himself atop one even though they were unsaddled and rode it away from the camp before the first guard came back and raised the alarm.

As Shou noticed there escape ahead, he noticed that the barrage of missiles weapons would change there target from them to the bridge to cut off there escape. Spinning the sword in his grip, he trusted in the spy to cut down any weapons that still came in there direction and focused on riding. Grabbing the reigns with both hands, he pretty much hugged the 'Gokaze's' neck and dug his feet into the horses sides, pushing the horse to his limits. 

Shou would see a spear slice one of the ropes of the bridge causing it to tilt slightly and hope beyond everything that the bridge would hold as they reached it. It was shaky, and it was hard to keep control of his horse on the uneven ground but he had to. Hearing another snap of a breaking rope behind him, he instinctively made his horse jump, before the bridge gave out under them and jumping would no longer be possible. 

The pair and Gokaze would move through the air the last leg, and Shou would see over his shoulder yet more ropes snap, and the bridge go down under where they had been. A drop in to what was most likely death, at least sever injury, and complete failure. They landed on the over side, unstable, and close to the edge and Shou carefully guided his horse away before they got hit by something and stumbled off the edge. 

From the way she reacted, it rose more question in his mind about her passed. She had no one to talk to until this guy, she had fallen for. Like she hadn't had a friend before, from the way she had cut in out as she spoke  "Well Shinomori-san. I'm glad you feel as if you can open up." Shou said, from what he had seen. Her early maturity, her apparent lack of friend in the past. Shou was getting the vibe that he life growing up had not been a good one. Add in apparent recent events of getting hurt and emotional confusion, and Shou was surprised she was able to.

"Though it may take me some getting use to using the name." Shou admitted, he really hadn't expected her revelation. "You know what. Seeing as we're friend call me Shou. Yamabara-san sound so formal." He told her, she had shown him trust he wasn't use to out side of those in the Takeda, it was a small concestion but a meaningful one in his own mind. 

Shou gave the small man a confused look at he comment about money. Just how old was he. He looked like he could be about 14, he was certainly small enough and didn't have the facial features of a man in his prime of adult hood. So it felt weird for him to be saying to Shou, that he was still young, and that Saito had learn when he was younger. 

"Just how old are you?" Shou asked bluntly, curiosity getting the best of him. Here was this younger man, with more useful skills for day to day living then he had. Medical knowledge, self-control in finance, even use of a bow at a professional level. It was as impressive as anything he had ever seen. 

Shou would sleep though the night, it was still cold even with the fire burning beside his make shift shelter. Without the two, and if he hadn't dried his clothes out earlier he probably would have been in a much worse state then he was, when he woke in the morning. His stomach growled, in pain at him and his throat was dry and sore. Woken sharply by the pain he got up quickly. And found his mask laying where he left it. Carefully he tasted it, just incase sea water had got mixed in with it. However it lacked the taste of salt and he downed the rest of it. He felt like throwing up, but held it down. He knew being sick now could probably kill him. 

He needed to gather more water, and find food before his body became to weak to do so. Knowing now that the only other person nearby was Maki, Shou considered donning his armour again before searching just in case he bumped into the other man, but Maki obviously knew a fight in there current predicament was stupid being injured he even slightly could spell death. Hoping that Maki would continued to not want to fight Shou would leave the armour, but would take the sword. 

Shou would head back to where he had bumped into Maki the previous day, in order to find the brook that Maki had found. Once he found it he would follow it back to see where was the closet point of the stream to where his camp was. It wouldn't be as close to his camp as he hoped but he would find a spot he could find again easily each day. Drinking his fill into the soreness of his throat subsided. Shou started exploring the forest in order to track down some game like Maki had done so already. Shou was stealthy yes, by a humans standard, but animals had senses beyond that of a normal man and Shou lack knowledge of hunting. It was going to be a long day, and he felt as if he was still going to be hungry at the end of it. 

Shou would take off the mask of his armour as he recognise Maki. He was un-armoured and carry what looked like a dear over his shoulder. Shou, would put his weapon away. Maki obviously didn't want to fight, and Shou did have the advantage of equipment it would have made any win over the other man unsatisfying. "The feeling mutual. But before you storm off. Do you know where the hell we are?" Shou would ask his tone just as annoyed as Maki's was.

He didn't want to be in the presence of the other man for longer then absolutely necessary, but the sight of the man's catch made his mouth water unconsciously. He was going to have to catch something himself soon, but water came first. "Have you seen anyone else?" Shou would demand to know, if there was at least someone else here apart from Maki, Shou could hopefully work with them if this place was a deserted as it seemed. 

"Certainly." Shou would say when asked to keep was about to be said secret, and waited for what it was. His mouth dropped, not expecting the revelation. Though it made some sense. He had assumed that he...no she was just young, and that's why she was so small. They something had forced her to have to rely on herself and driven her to her travels in order to earn a living. But being a women she could be older then he though and still much smaller then him. 

He didn't blame her though, for keeping it hidden, being a women travelling along in these time, even if if she could look out for herself would have been harder for her if she openly did so. There were bad people in the world, evil men who didn't respect women and treated them as something to be used and thrown away. Forcing his mouth closed, Shou listened as she continued. Telling him what had led her to being injured.

Shou put two and two together. Her previous comments about caring for someone, making more sense as she revealed something about a man, who had apparently done something against his nature in order to protect her.  She wanted to know how to put thing right. Shou didn't have a clue what to say, he didn't know this man, nor the what had transpired exactly and therefore any input he gave would be missing some of the facts. 

"Sometimes just having someone to talk to is useful, in order to get things off your chest. Thank you for telling me though." Shou said nodding, it showed some amount of trust in him. "and don't apologise. A burden of a friend is one I'm always willing to carry." Shou told her. 'Carrying things is what I do.' He thought to himself, making light of it in his mind a little to add a little humour to his shock but smart enough not to say it out loud.

He felt like he should reveal something more about himself in return, but he didn't really have any secrets, and his own losses were far enough in the past that bringing them up would feel wrong. Like he was trying to out do her's. "If you ever need to talk, Saito-san, i'll listen. Do i still call you Saito-san, in private like this?" Shou offered then asked looking around as no one was close enough to over hear and make this conversation a public one. 

Shou doubted that Yukimura would just tell him simply from him Shou asking. If a friend of his was attempting to conceal there identity surely the man would respect that wish and keep it to himself. Shou couldn't help but wonder how exactly the message would reveal who the man was. 

"Well I hope that to. Mostly because I like the idea of living. Though if your friends of Yukimura, I shouldn't think you'd move against the Takeda." Shou would say,not entirely sure would drive him to fight against what he wished. 

It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Having received a new task to transporting a message, to the other side of Japan. Shou had not wanted to travel all the way by land. It would have taken a long time, and by then his message may not have even being relevant anymore. Taking a ship down the coast sounded like a good idea. The wind at this time of year were good and he would probably cut his journey in half. However what should have been perfect weather for the trip, turned sour. A large rumbling sound in the distance signalled doom. A giant wave coming for far out at sea, picking up in size. The ship folded to the force of the wave, as easily as paper. Breaking apart as it was lifted up and smashed back into with enough force to split the ship in half.

Blackness came over him as he was pulled under the water, and looking back on it he should have been dead. However eventually, he had no idea after how long he regained consciousness. He was soaking, freezing, sand and rock under him, digging in to the joints between the armour. His clothes wear torn and a large section of wood lay next to him. Wave licked up behind him, keeping his feet wet, while the rest of him was slowly drying in the sun.

Dragging himself to knees, Shou pulled himself forward out of the range of the waves. Letting himself collapse on the sandy floor below him he turned over. He knew he would have to get up soon, to try and find out where he was, but his body ached the armour that normally made him feel stronger heavier than it had ever felt before. From where he lay, he looked left and right across the beach, in case he could spot any more people who had washed ashore alongside him.

Sending a courier to steal and replace the documents carried by a courier of the Uesugi. It made sense in some twisted way. It didn’t mean that Shou had to like it. Alone without back up of any kind, and probably not strong enough to fight his way free if things went sour. At least he had some advantages over other who may have been sent. The demonic armour he had taken to wearing, was uncovered and he wore the mask. Something that he didn’t like doing but not only did it cover his identity. But it was mostly black, and during the night that was a great boon.



The camp lay not far off, and Shou pressed to the ground watched from atop a local hill in the terrain. He remained there for some time, simply watching the guards. Figuring out the routes that the ones on this side of the camp were taking and noticing how long between each change of guard. After the first couple changes Shou knew that he would have to go on the next one. It would be went the night was at its darkest and clouds above would cover more of the moon’s light, as they blew in from the west.


Waiting until the guards where once more went to change, Shou would move. Getting to his feet quickly he would move towards the camp in a crouch of a run as the guards closet spoke to their replacements, distracted before heading into the camp. Managing to time his approach not only mid guard changing, but between two of the patrols, so he was father away from both of the groups. Reaching the side of the first tent. Shou would slide a dagger into his hand, and silently slice through the canvas of the tent. Peaking inside Shou would notice sleeping guards. Eyes darted across the room, each bedroll in the tent was occupied, a good sign as it meant those return from there patrols wouldn’t be heading in here more than likely.



Shou would creep slowly across the room, foot falls as silent as he could manage and making sure to avoid anything that lay on the floor. However as he passed the second row, Shou heard one of the guards start to stir. Staying here was a bad idea. Quickly stepping pass the row before the guard managed to wake father, he got to the ground and rolled on his side out the other side of the tent. Listening out he heard the guard groan, and the a thud of the man letting him fall back into his bedroll.


Looking round the camp, Shou examined the different tents and notice one much smaller than the others, but less decorated then what he would expect from a commander’s tent. Shou would sneak up the side tent e was next to and look both ways. Before sudden flattening himself to the side of the tent, as three guards walked passed. Shou saw one start to turn to look in his direction, and Shou stepped back father allowing the tent to wrap around him slightly blocking him from sight.


Once the guards had moved on, Shou quickly as he could, still running in a crouch moved to the side of the tent he was aiming for. Repeating his tactic, he cut the tent open quietly and looked inside. Sleeping alone in the tent, Shou could tell from the belonging in the room that he was in the right place. Hanging from a peg, was a small wooden tube sealed at the top. Silently Shou moved over to the tube, removed a tube of similar design, and then gentle pealed the seal on the tube off the courier and attached them to his own before replacing the tubes.



Job done, Shou retreated the way he came. Hiding in the shadows between some of the tents until he could hear the guards changing once more. He followed his route out, but headed round the original tent rather than through it, before making his way between the patrols and to the hill he had started at and safety.