One Bright Day in the Middle of the Night

Chapter 53: Next Contestant

Sasuke looked over to Takumi's cell, and knew who had given Alexis that tidbit of information. Whether he knew it or not, Takumi had just solidified his loyalties, and they were fully behind Alexis.

Immediately, Sasuke looked to try to defuse the ire of the impatient red-head.

"Kenshin woke the castle after stopping to check on you, and spent almost until noon taking care of the business he missed while away. When he was done, I made sure he went to his room. Since I haven't seen him since then, I would guess that he's still sleeping."

"Sleeping? Really?" The tone of Alexis' voice let him know she didn't believe that at all. Yukimura came to Sasuke's rescue.

"Really. Kenshin doesn't sleep much on the battlefield, if at all. He most likely finally crashed."

"I convinced Yukimura that we should come get you. By now you would be going crazy with boredom, and I figured you might be able to use a good sparring session." Sasuke explained his reasoning calmly, and was rewarded with a smile from Alexis.

"Hell yeah. Do I get to spar with Yuki?" Her eyes glittered and Yukimura wasn't sure he liked the predatory look she was giving him.

Yukimura looked over at Sasuke quickly, not at all certain, but he relaxed a bit at the nod from the ninja.

"Go for it, Yukimura. Alexis is nothing like Kenshin." Sasuke pushed up his glasses considering Alexis for a minute." Well, I take that back. She doesn't use full blades during sparring so she won't kill you, just make you wish you were dead."

"I don't know if that's better or worse Sasuke, but I think I want to try to spar with her anyway."

Alexis was practically dancing with excitement.

"Ohhh....I've never got to spar with a spear user before! Sasuke, please tell me there is a Shinai-type version of his weapon...." Her blue eyes sparkled in anticipation, and Sasuke gave a little grin.

"Most definitely."

"Yay!"

They trooped up the stairs, and Alexis set her irritation towards Kenshin on the back burner for now. She was more than positive she'd be able to rip into the cold Warlord soon enough. Yukimura turned toward the pair as they got to the top of the stairs. Night was starting to fall, the faded colors of sunset bleeding into a darker blue hue as darkness fell.

"I'm going to go fetch Shingen, and we'll meet the two of you in the training dojo. He keeps saying how he wants to at least see Alexis fight, even if he can't fight her himself right now."

"He can come watch, but nothing more. He just got over the fever and I don't want to have him relapse at all." Alexis looked pointedly at Sasuke. "At least not until I have a chance to speak to our Ninja here about possible treatments."

Yuki nodded and took off quickly to collect his Lord. Shingen would never forgive him if he were to keep him from a chance such as this, a chance to see the Sword Princess of the Oda in action. Hell, Yukimura was more than curious himself.

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Yukimura stretched out his shoulder wincing as he did so, as Alexis just cracked his upper arm with the shinai she was wielding hard across his bicep. Both combatants were a bit out of breath, a thin film of sweat across heated bodies and Yukimura was completely in awe of the prowess of the red-headed beauty.

"Maybe our Goddess of War truly is an Angel in disguise. That's the third time she's gotten the best of you, Yuki. Had you met her in battle, you would be severely injured if not dead. Count yourself fortunate you can instead learn from her."