One Bright Day in the Middle of the Night

Chapter 18: Irons in the Fire

I just finished changing into my sleeping robe when I heard a slight knock from up in the ceiling. I looked up just in time to see a ceiling panel move to show the face of Sasuke in the gloom.

"Oh, Hey Sasuke." I smiled brightly as my friend turned ninja dropped down from the hole above. "Were you watching me change or are you at least polite enough to wait and not peek?" Sasuke didn't take the bait at all, choosing to ignore my statement.

"Don't you 'Hey, Sasuke' me. I've been gone less than a week and I hear all sorts of rumors about you." I cringed a little and sat down on my futon, gesturing him to sit.

"Yeah, you might want to sit down. It's been a long week."

Sasuke sat down with a sigh, folding his legs beneath him as he knelt on the edge of my futon.

"You know, I could have sworn I told you to stay out of trouble..." He glared at me, making me more than a little defensive.

"It's not like I could help it." I shrugged, attempting to smooth things over with nonchalance, but Sasuke wasn't buying it. "Why? What did ya hear?"

"Hmm...let's see. You've acquired a couple titles, Sword Princess of the Oda, The Oda Phoenix.." He glared at me. "Not to mention you now have quite the reputation with a sword after beheading a man yesterday." I flinched.

"Um..Yeah. Well..." I wasn't sure what to say. 'He started it' seemed more than a little childish given the circumstances. "I kinda went from Nobunaga's lucky charm to something else..."

The look Sasuke gave me spoke volumes.

"Tell me you aren't sleeping with Nobunaga..."

"Oh, Good GOD! No!" I wrinkled up my face in surprise, my eyebrows flying up to my hairline. I couldn't get the denials out fast enough. "Thank you much, but I've been doing everything I can to KEEP that from happening. What the hell do you take me for?"

I wasn't sure what kind of response I was going to get to that statement but Sasuke surprised me yet again.

"A survivor." He shrugged. "I know good and well you will do anything and everything you can to get through all this. Whether you want to or not."

"Well, to be honest, it would most likely been easier to just pick one of the guys and become his mistress, but you know I don't roll that way."

"I do know you've gotten pickier than you used to be."

"I don't know if you would call it pickier, but I got tired of the whole macho bullshit. I decided that I wouldn't get physically involved with a guy whose ass I can kick." My tone of voice was brutally honest, and to me reasonable. "Kinda puts a damper on things as here I'm not nearly as confident that I can win."

It was obvious that Sasuke knew what I was talking about as his usually stoic face cracked into a slight smile.

"Hey, don't get so cocky. I can still beat them." I gave him a sly smile. "I've been training with Ieyasu Tokugawa." My voice went into a sing-song tone, teasing Sasuke with the information. The look on Sasuke's face was worth it.

"Lucky." Sasuke sounded put out at that, being that Ieyasu was Sasuke's idol of the era.

"Heh, as if you don't get to play with Kenshin..."

"True, but I highly doubt that every time you spar, Ieyasu is trying to kill you."

I couldn't argue that. Kenshin was definitely scary when he was in full battle-mode. Scary in a way I really liked though. Again, I realize I have issues with men.

"Getting back to the subject of Nobunaga...I actually went ahead and when Nobunaga gifted me a katana from his collection, I pledged my sword to him, effectively becoming one of his vassals." My explanation was a simplistic version but most likely similar to what Sasuke himself had done. "I guessed that it would be safer and more effective in the long run."