One Bright Day in the Middle of the Night

Chapter 3: Castle Azuchi

Mitsunari opened the sliding paper- covered door and led me into a comfortable looking and quite spacious room.

"This room shall be yours for the duration of your stay with us. I hope you find it adequate, Lady Alexis" Immediately, I turned to him, giving him a slight bow.

"Thank you, Mitsunari." I straightened and had to give him a smile at the look of anxiety on his face. If I didn't it would feel like I had kicked a puppy.

The look of relief that came across was beatific in its grace and simplicity, and the smile that came right after would not have been amiss on the face of one of the heavenly host. "Please, can we not be so formal? I am really not used to the whole "lady" nonsense. Can you just call me Alexis?"

"Very well, then Alexis. But I do insist that you do the same. I shall leave you to your rest. Someone will be by later to collect you." I nodded and gave a short bow to Mitsunari as he left the room, sliding the paper door shut behind him.

I looked about the room and sighed, my shoulders slumping with fatigue. It was a nice room, well appointed with all the things a person would need without being ostentatious. Thankfully, I still had my purse.

Calling it a purse is a bit of a misnomer. This damn thing is a satchel, holding a ton of stuff I wanted with me while on my trip. I sat down, cross legged and attempted to take stock of what I had with me. I over ended the well made black leather, sending the contents cascading to the tatami mat floor. I lay out each item in front of me, wanting to memorize the items I had.

The magazine 'A Traveler's Guide to Japan's Hottest Warlords', along with a host of other items caught my gaze as I looked at each in turn. I had the usual. My cellphone, which of course now was a useless mass of plastic, had about 60% left on the battery, so I turned it off to conserve as much as possible, not that I would need it. I have a charger for the phone, which is also now useless. I had my keys, wallet and passport, as well as the standard items in a woman's purse. Well, my purse at least.

Standard hygiene products such as a small bottle of hand sanitizer and wipes, as well as my brush, small makeup bag and dry shampoo were a welcome sight. I opened the makeup bag, and went over the basics, foundation, powder, mascara, eye liner, blush and two lip sticks and a gloss. Oh! Good deal! I also had five more elastics for my hair. I re-zipped the bag and continued on.

Strange chick that I am, I carry a small first aid kit, and my epi-pen, because hey, ya might need it when traveling. It wasn't much, just a small tube of triple antibiotic, a handful of band aids, and a few alcohol wipes. Just enough for small cuts or scrapes. I continued sorting through the stuff in front of me.

Then I had my current job materials. My sewing kit was never far from my sight anymore. I had a collection of threads, sharp as hell scissors, a knife some buttons, and my pincushion. The pincushion was the more important for me, at least in sentimental value. Over the years, I had made a collection of pins, as well as the fine pieces and needles needed for delicate work. Then there was my test piece, Bearsace. The little stuffed bear, with his cream colored fur, and bright blue acrylic eyes immediately made me feel a little better.

The last piece in my myriad of crap was the most recent. Good god was it only two days ago? I had brought the plaque to show Sasuke. It wasn't much, but my name, the event, my placement, and the date were inscribed in gold lettering across the black glass, written in both English and Kanji. Ya, I couldn't read the Japanese very well. My Kanji sucks.

I tucked most of everything back in the purse except for the things I would need to take care of myself for a minute. I took down my hair, running the brush though it and spraying a bit of the dry shampoo to temporarily get the smoke smell out. I brushed my hair after, trying to calm myself a bit with routine tasks.