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Below the short passage was a seal. An official seal that seemed to be fused to and float above it’s spot on the parchment at the same time. It was not a seal she’d ever seen before, but the round design made it clear where the letter had come from. The moon…

“What’s this?” Lord Nobunaga asked, picking up the letter as she poured his tea.

“It came to me last night.”

MC left out the part about it coming from the moon itself for fear of sounding foolish. After all how was she supposed to explain to her lord that, due to all of his own tournaments that it was his fault the moon itself thought she was THE Princess Kaguya?

It was common enough now for Lord Nobunaga to offer her as the prize for his ridiculous tournaments and contests, usually with Lord Ieyasu but sometimes with his own retainers or allies that came to visit. She expected he did it the first time to see her flustered reaction at being offered on a silver plate to Ieyasu Tokugawa himself the first time she’d met him, but now she wondered if it was still to tease her or if he enjoyed showing off his skills and being able to claim her as “his” when he won. Not that she wasn’t. She’d been under the employment of the Oda clan for a while now, and Nobunaga made her his personal cook the moment he learned she could make his favorite sweets. She’d objected to being treated as a prize at first, flustering at the implications when she was called to his room that night.

“You’re mine now, are you not? I was victorious over the Tanuki.”

In the end, he only requested she feed him konpeito as he used her lap as a pillow.

She’d since “belonged” to almost every retainer of the Oda clan who’d won the tournament, and even Lord Ieyasu himself at one point. Of course, that mostly only entailed cooking their favorite foods, serving them first at dinner, and pouring their sake. Lord Ieyasu had taken perhaps too much joy in running her ragged with errands before demanding as much strawberry daifuku as she could make. Hideyoshi and Inuchiyo had both instructed her to get rest, though Hideyoshi’s friendly mannerisms and implications of bedsharing had her childhood friend seeing red. The most relaxing time she’d ever had was when she was in the service of Lord Mitsuhide, who simply gave her days upon days off and asked she learn the tea ceremony and poetry. However, she never “belonged” to anyone other than their liege lord for long. After a while Nobunaga would win her back in a spur-of-the-moment tournament or things would simply return to how it had always been. No one dared lay a hand on her.

“Used as the prize again, were you? I’m sorry.” Lord Katsuie laughed as she’d poured his sake for him, his sincere apology hidden behind his jovial grin. “You’re a regular Princess Kaguya.”

“Not at all. I’m used to it by now.” She said with a bright smile. “A Princess Kaguya? I don’t mind the sound of that. Though, I doubt I’m worthy of such a title.”

That day she had no idea of the eyes on her from the dias as Lord Nobunaga tapped his fan to his knee impatiently, or the eyes apparently on her from the moon that heard every word. A few days later she was back in the hands of her liege lord after he called a sumo tournament on, and had been ever since.

Now, it was her that tapped her knee anxiously as she watched his eyes read over the short letter, stopping briefly at the seal, and then read it over again. She had no idea how long he’d been doing so. The tea no longer steamed.

“Lord Nobunaga, your tea will go cold…”

He blinked, seemingly snapped out of a trance. With a jerk of his arm the letter was ripped in two. He tossed the offending pieces of parchment away from him, as if they’d insulted him personally.

“Ridiculous.” He muttered before grabbing the jar of konpeito she’s made and dumping a number of the sugar stars into his hand.

“L-Lord Nobunaga…?!” She squeaked, moving to retrieve the ripped letter. “What about—?”

“Leave it.”

MC stilled, her hand dropping to her side. She swallowed, something in her chest dropping. She may have been naive, but she had no grand fantasies about how her lord felt about her. She didn’t hope for tender feelings from him, but this felt as if he were casting her out. She didn’t know what she’d expected from giving him the letter, but it definitely wasn’t disregard.

“If The Moon wants you, it can take you from me the same as any other has tried.”

MC blinked. “Lord Nobunaga?”

A smile played at his lips, confident but barely visible in his profile. “No one, not even the Moon, can match me. That’s what Divine Rule means.”

“But--” “Hey.”

She blinked, her eyes wrenching away from the tattered parchment to him. His eyes suddenly gave her pause. Usually they were as cold as the steel of the rifles he loved, but now they seemed to burn with a molten fire. What had brought that on?

“Konpeito.”

It didn’t feel like a demand. His voice was firm but perhaps not as cold. Either way, MC didn’t have it in her heart to refuse him. She never did. So, she turned away from the note to retrieve the jar from his desk. Lord Nobunaga himself moved away from his desk, the papers he’d been sifting through now forgotten, to sit on his bedding. MC knew, of course, what that meant. Her lap was his favorite pillow, though he rarely requested the use of it without reason. She only hoped that her company and some sweets could offer him comfort from whatever it was. Besides that, she quite enjoyed the weight of his head on her lap. It was...intimate in a way she did not expect.

“You don’t need to worry. Stop making that face.”

“What face?”

“The face you make when you’re troubled.” His head settled across her thighs and he tapped the jar in her hand with a childlike impatience.

She managed a smile, and they sat in silence for a while, nothing but the sound of his faint crunching on the hard candies and the tinking of them against the glass filling the room. She hated how still it was. It felt different than when she’d fed him before. There was no teasing. No feel of his lips or tongue lingering on the tips of her fingers solely to make her blush. On the contrary, he was barely looking at her at all. It was heavy. Suffocating. She couldn’t stand it.

“Lord Nobunaga, I--”

“Would you want to go?”

“Pardon?”

“Not to the moon but...home.”

Lord Nobunaga was looking at her now, his eyes molten again. It seemed as though he was...searching her. Pleading. Begging for an answer.

“Well...I suppose it wouldn’t be so bad to go back home.” He stiffened immediately at her words, turning away. She placed another sugar star against his lips to stop him from rising. “But I wouldn’t be able to stay away long. A visit would be fine. I’d love to see mother and Yahiko again. But if I leave, who will make your konpeito?”

This time, she did smile. A soft, tender thing meant only for the times they shared. His lips opened, accepting the candy. They lingered on her fingertips, and if she didn’t know any better she might have heard a sigh of relief as he ate it. His eyes closed and he settled back against her more comfortably,closing his eyes. However, when she moved to pull her hand from him she found his own grasping it firmly, clutching her fingers like a lifeline.

“You belong to me don’t you?”

Lord Nobunaga’s words were now firm and left no room for argument. They never did. “Yes milord. You won the sumo tournament.”

He didn’t reply. His eyes remained closed. Her hand would have hurt if not for the way his tone made her heart ache. MC sat the jar beside them, using her now free hand to push away the strands of hair that had fallen in his face.

“Yes Lord Nobunaga. I belong to you.”

His arms were suddenly around her, his face buried in her stomach. Her cheeks flared at the sudden change. The sudden haste and desperation in which he held her. As if he were challenging anyone, even the heavens, to take her from him.

           “Ichthys and I are keeping you in a frozen state,” Teorus started.

           “Ichthys?” Saizo cut Teorus off. There are two? I didn’t sense anyone else nearby.

           “Yeah,” Teorus continued. “He was here a while ago, but he got bored when you didn’t wake up. He’s probably playing a prank right now. He’ll be back soon.”

           Though the Lord Assassin was used to unexpected situations, this was starting to give him a headache. In a short amount of time he was already being bombarded with large amounts of new information, but none of it seemed to make sense. Saizo took a deep breath.

           First, just get some answers from this guy. I need to know if he’s an enemy or not. He knows about the little lady so what else does he know? I’ll figure out what to do next once I get those answers.

           “Teorus, right?”

           Teorus, who had been mumbling to himself about an absent Ichthys now looked over at Saizo quizzically.

           “Yeah, that’s me. What’s up?”

           Strange accent.

           “You’re not being very clear. Why don’t we start from the beginning, hmm?”

           Teorus tilted his head, curiously. “Sure, I’ll try to explain as best I can. Let’s see…” Thinking for a moment, the strangely dressed man finally nodded to himself. “Ok, I think I got it.”

           “Let’s hope so,” Saizo smiled coldly. Teorus held his hands up mockingly.

           “Ooh, that’s a scary look. Though,” he smiled silkily, “you might not be looking at me like that once I explain.”

           “We’ll see.” Saizo was in no mood for games.

           “Alright, well first off,” Teorus starts, “I’m Wishes god and I’m here to help grant your wish.”

           Saizo frowned. “A god who grants wishes?” Teorus nodded.

           “I come from the Heavens and work in the Wishes Department. We grant humans their wishes. I received your wish and came down to Earth to grant it seeing as this is a special case.”

           “What wish did I make? And what makes me a special case?”

           Teorus smiled sadly at him. “You wanted to eat Sayuri’s dango one last time before you die.”

           That’s right. I remember thinking about the little lady and her dango. Right before I…

           “I died,” Saizo said simply.

           “Didn’t you hear me before?” The god asked exasperatedly. “You were on the verge of death.” He paused. “You still are. That’s why you’re a special case. I have to use a huge amount of my power to keep your body frozen in time and move you to a different time period. Normally I wouldn’t be allowed to do any of this, but you’re an exception.”

           Saizo thought for a moment. It was hard to wrap his head around such a bizarre story. Even Yukimura who believed almost anything you told him would have a hard time believing this. But he couldn’t ignore the state of his body or his strange surroundings. He especially couldn’t ignore the god standing before him who at this very moment had decided to snap his fingers. A square box appeared in Teorus’ hand as if pulled from the air.

           Well, that can’t be imagined, can it?

           Saizo wanted to laugh at how ridiculous this all seemed, but it was hard to do so knowing the implications of Teorus’ words.

           “If you stop using your power on me, I’ll die.” It wasn’t a question, but Teorus nodded anyway.

           “Pretty much. Ichthys is also helping by using his healing powers. We can’t interfere with life and death. He’s only easing the pain so you can walk around. Once we finish granting your wish, though, we’ll have to send you back to your time and let your fate take its course. I’m sorry.”

           “My wish wasn’t for you to save me, now was it?” Saizo asked coolly. “I’ll get to eat the little lady’s dango again, right? I’ll go happy if I get that much,” he smiled sad, self-deprecating smile. Teorus stared for a moment.

           Goldfish don’t live long, Teorus thought to himself, “They ask for the strangest things, this goldfish is no different. So why does his wish and his smile make my heart hurt?

           Saizo interrupted the god’s thoughts. “So where is the little lady, hm? Take me to her so I can get my wish granted.”

           Teorus smiled a genuine smile. “The sooner the better, I guess? Alright, let’s go.”

            For a brief moment, Saizo felt like his body was suspended in air, but the moment ended with his feet firmly planted on a sidewalk. He hardly noticed his surroundings because in front him, there stood a building with large windows, the inside decorated with polished wood and classic Japanese art, vases full of spring flowers sitting on simple, but comfortable tables. Even all of this was of no consequence to him because all Saizo could see was a woman with long black hair tied at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were as round as the perfectly shaped dango she set before a customer. Her skin looked as soft and warm as the last time he held her in his arms. Her smile was as warm and inviting as the last time he had ever made it home to hear that sweet voice.