Yasuke's Room

"Oof..." Yasuke sighed as he stomped into his room after a night out. Someone had been up in his face this evening too, and while Yasuke was quite apt with his fists these pointless bar fights wasn't his cup of tea and he reckoned that he might have held back a bit too much earning his opponent a few good hits. Nothing major and he had counted all his teeth on his way home so he was sure that all the teeth left on the bar desk were indeed not his. Still he was exhausted and tomorrow loomed a new day with 'samurai chores'.

"Fixing a damn door seems to be one of them..." Yasuke mumbled as he closed the screechy shoji door and quickly let his body drop to the tatami that was his bed. Yasuke felt his teeth with his tongue again ensuring they were all present and touched his stomach with his hand - the bastard had hit hard but Yasuke slowly fell into a dreamless state of relaxation despite the uncomfortable sensation.

"Huh...?" Yasuke slowly hummed, hearing the screeching door again while opening his eye halfway. Nope, the door is still closed. "I must be dreaming..." Yasuke said and took a deep breath trying to go back to sleep. However he felt a slight tickling sensation on his right cheek. At first he thought it to be a mosquito, but without the buzzing around his curiosity extended to opening his eye halfway again.

However before he got to see what this was all about a furry paw was planted in his eye and the 'screeching' from before had returned.
"Wh-what do you want?!!" Yasuke exclaimed and got up and looked at the small creature with a frown. "A cat..?" he said confused and scratched his head. A small white kitten sat besides his tatami and meowed while looking at Yasuke with those big eyes.

"What..? What's the matter?!?" he asked even more intently as he put his head close to the kitten trying to stare it down. Yasuke shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Alright you're going out now fella!" he said and grabbed the kitten with his hand and attempted to lift it up and expel it from his room. However a set of well developed claws meant the kitten was quite firmly holding onto the tatami floor and Yasuke found that the task was not as easily accomplished as he had thought at first.

"What you little...!" Yasuke said angrily though sitting there and licking its big paw and looking at Yasuke with those innocent eyes he felt it difficult to force the matter by physical force. "Okay listen up dude! I'll get you some night snacks and then you're out of here, gettit?" Yasuke said and waved his finger in front of the kitten, the small furry creature playfully batting at it. Yasuke pulled it back unconvinced that the cat had understood the deal but nevertheless went to journey for milk and tuna. The Hizashi mansion always had food and as Yasuke sometimes came home inebriated he had made a habit of dropping by the kitchen to snack an easy meal and thus knew quite well what they stored in there. Of course nobody knew he was 'giving the goods a taste' as he knew a small window that was never really locked.


A little later Yasuke returned with the tuna and milk though it seemed the small kitten was no longer in the mood for food - and perhaps hadn't been before as it had curled up on his tatami sleeping soundly. Yasuke sighed as he arranged the milk and tuna anyway and carefully poked the kitten.
"Hey, it's dinner time. Hey..!" he said, though the kitten seemed reluctant to wake up and only twitching and purring slightly. Yasuke crossed his arms and looked at it for a few seconds before lifting it up and looking at the window.

"It's cold out there tonight little fellow, you can sleep here. But just for tonight." Yasuke said laid down on the tatami placing the still sleeping kitten on his belly. The purr seemed to have an odd soothing effect on his bruised muscles in the stomach - a nice sensation as if very gently massaging the sore area. "Maybe I'll name you 'killer'", he said with a faint smile gently caressing it with his index finger feeling how the kitten's calm breathing lulled Yasuke to sleep.

After the war had concluded Yasuke had hoped to being able to relax a little but it seemed like life had other plans for him. His house was still under construction and he had used the day conducting talks with servants, builders and the architect to figure out how to go about constructing it in the most efficient manner and recruiting people for his household. It was a jarringly mature task but even though his steps were heavy on the way back a slight smile had crept up his face - perhaps this 'hard word and honesty' thing would really pay off? He started imagining himself in the house along with servants - and perhaps even a wife and kids? "Lord Yasuke..!" he said and straightened his back. "I bet my dad never saw that coming. Huh, did you Gihei you treacherous servant kidnapper?!?" he exclaimed to himself and chuckled as he thought that perhaps being good needed to be tempered with a little bit of underhandedness anyway. At least it seemed like that was the way to go right now.

As Yasuke entered the Hizashi Mansion he was already starting to look forward to putting his head on the pillow and had to remind himself to feed 'Killer' his cat as he thought about the cloak he had used last when he had abducted Nakatani - it was still in there and reminded him of a side of himself he was starting to distance himself from.
"I better get rid of that old piece of cloth now - burn it perhaps." he mused as he strolled towards his in his own thoughts. It was most likely only a few months more before he could move into his new house and he had to find some excuse to have killer in his new house without the servants thinking he was soft.

Yasuke reached for the sliding door instinctively but only grabbed thin air hearing a sobbing voice inside which was vastly different from Killer's meowing and he took a step inside the wooden floor creaked slightly as he did.
"Naka... tani-dono?" he asked and looked at her before seeing all his clothes spread around the room. Had she forgotten how to clean or..? "What are you doing?" he asked, feeling surprised more than anything. However his eyes suddenly fixed themselves upon the secret room that had been opened and then in lightning fast succession on the cloak Nakatani sat with and he froze opening his eyes wide. Every cell in Yasuke's body had only one response: 'This is bad!'.

Yasuke looked around as if to confirm this was really his room and that he hadn't barged into some alternative reality. Unfortunately it was and he was in the bind of his life. Part of Yasuke wanted to run but his legs couldn't move right now and he could only listen to her words and he didn't feel like the great samurai right now as everything he had built for himself had crumbled to pieces. He wanted to apologize, to tell her he had improved - which was no lie - but those would be hollow words against the accusations she was throwing it him. Would he lie now then? No even the best lie would pale when her emotions touched Kojuro's heart.

Why did he do it? Of course the truth was that he needed to desperately escape his past and in doing so other people had only been pawns in his game - but in the process he had found some small degree of comfort - peace even - in the fact that his skills was appreciated by someone. And not just anyone, it was the lord of the land and he even dared called Yasuke 'friend' on a few occasions, a word Yasuke hadn't dared return out fear that his friendship was worth too little - and perhaps it was.

In the light of this he knew that their friendship was no more from the moment Naka had found out. Yasuke's face hardened into a frown, he had always been a wild dog who only served himself and Nakatani would now see that those cold eyes had done far worse than kidnapping a servant and he towered well above her carrying his sheathed swords at his side as he approached.

"I'm sure you will tell Lord Kojuro everything about this, Nakatani-dono. That's why i'm asking myself if it was wise to tell me that?" Yasuke said and glared at Nakatani.