A Good Deed Gone Unpunished

Mai Finds Home

The aftermath of the battle was a blur. Mai remembered someone pulling her off of Kennyo, struggling to unclamp her fingers from his robes. The brass knuckles being eased from her fist, a cloth wiping away blood. A voice telling her it was over.

Mai refusing to leave until Kennyo was carried away, bound even though he was still knocked out.

It was two days later before Mai was present again. She'd slept nearly the entire time, only waking up halfway through the first day to have a seizure, before falling back asleep for another sixteen hours. When she woke up, she staggered to the nearest kitchen, ate an entire pot of plain rice, drank all the water she could find, then wandered the halls until she found someone.

"Lass!" Masamune spotted her turning a corner and almost had a heart attack. Her hair hung long and tangled, her face was pale, her sleeping clothes dangled against her body and dragged behind her feet. She looked like a wraith, wandering the hall all disheveled after two days of being near-comatose. "You're up!"

Mai broke into a sprint when she noticed him. "Masamune!" She tackled him with a hug, tension seeping away. That's one of her friends she knew was alive, now. Mai just needed to know the fates of everyone else. "I'm so glad you're okay. What about the others, is everyone alright?"

"They're all safe. Nobunaga and Hideyoshi are finalizing the peace agreements with the Uesugi-Takeda right now. Ieyasu is working with the wounded - so are your guards. Mitsuhide's off doing something shady in the dungeons, your friends from the other side are all well; that weird ninja asked everyone here for an autograph, again, whatever that is. Oh, and Mitsunari is in the library." That final part was accompanied by an inappropriate wink, which Mai completely disregarded.

Actually, everything after they're all safe was disregarded, partly because of the massive, overwhelming relief, and partly because the longer Masamune spoke, the more likely it was innapropriate; Mai tuned him out after a set amount of time for sanity's sake.

All her friends were safe. They were alive, her mistake hadn't killed them all, they all made it through a war and hunting down Kennyo.

They won.

"I'm going to find Mitsunari," Mai declared, detaching from Masamune. The last she'd seen him, Kennyo was using his beautiful head as a baseball with his monk staff as the bat. All Mai wanted now was to look into those comforting amethyst eyes and see for herself that Mitsunari was okay.

Since she'd tuned most of Masamune's exposition out, her first idea was to search Mitsunari's quarters. He wasn't there, but Kitty was, which was a reward in itself. It had been so long since Mai ran her fingers through Kitty's soft fur, heard those muted purrs, felt the reassurance that came with the slow, calm blinks Kitty aimed her way.

Petting Kitty reminded Mai of Lucky. Was she okay out there? Were her wounds healing? Did she have enough food? Guilt twisted her stomach as she thought about leaving Lucky back at Kennyo's camp. If only Mai could have brought Lucky with her...

Mai forced those thoughts out of her head and resumed searching for Mitsunari. If he wasn't in his room, he was either in a meeting, in the library, or lost in a hallway somewhere.

"Lady Mai!"

Mid-step, Mai pivoted on her heel in the hallway. Mitsunari was behind her, balancing a tower of books with one arm. His other arm was in a sling. An ugly bruise took over the right side of his face, the edges mottled yellow and blue. The center was eggplant purple, right on his temple. His right eye was swollen and black but still vibrant amethyst.

"I'm so glad to see you." As Mitsunari stepped towards her, books started falling from his stack onto the floor. "Ah, hold on-"

"I'll help." Mai grabbed most of the books, taking a few from Mitsunari's arms. "I've got two good arms, after all." Mai leaned in and kissed Mitsunari's bruised face.