FicWad

Please see Chapter one for full disclaimers, warnings, and summaries.

Notes: I'm really trying with some emotional things for Kotaro in this chapter. I'm relatively happy with how it turned out.

As always, I would like to thank Kat for being kind enough to look this over for me. Your mad-beta-skillz have worked wonders on my grammar! And Mchan for checking for continuinity for me. Can't see the forest for the trees is a mild understatement when you've been working on something so much. You two rock!

/Kotaro's POV/

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Enemy of my Enemy - Chapter 11

The airship had crashed to the ground, bringing down many towers with it and we had a difficult time making our way through the rubble. I knew the layout to Gifu castle from all the information I'd managed to collect, but most of the entrance was destroyed and we were blindly looking for another way in. Time was running out as we climbed over the large blocks of stone that lay piled around the castle grounds. "Maybe we should look for a different way," I called out once I saw that the main door was completely caved in. "I think we can go around the side! Magoichi?" I'd lost sight of him after we'd parted to try and find a way through the courtyard. I knew he could take care of himself, but a lump of worry built in my stomach when he didn't respond. "Magoichi?" I climbed over the stones, running around several fires that were still burning from the explosions. I'd seen him walking in that direction, but now I was wishing that I'd been paying more attention.

"Kotaro!" I heard him calling me. "Come over here!" His voice was urgent and I followed it until I found him crouched down by a section of the hull.

I ran up to him, ready to draw my weapons. "What?" I stopped in my tracks when I got closer. He was holding that woman in his arms. Oyu. "What's she doing here?" I asked, not hiding my distrust.

"Kotaro, she's hurt. Get the medicine and bandages!" My instincts told me to fight his decision, but I knew better and dug through my pack to grab my emergency herbs. I had to admit as I slipped the leaf past her lips; she didn't look like too much of a threat. Maybe it was just because she was unconscious. It seemed that all people looked that way when they were asleep.

The medicine had an almost immediate effect and I could sense her energy changing as the minutes past. We didn't have time for this. "Magoichi, we-"

"Hold on," he said, lifting her into his arms. "First we need to find a better place to do this. It's not safe here."

I nodded, rolling my eyes when his back was turned. "There should be a way in around the side of the castle. I remember seeing it on a map of this place." I led them down the path that I'd mentioned, feeling a pang of jealousy as I watched him out of the corner of my eye carrying her limp body.

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I was grateful for my memory as I slid the door aside that led to a room that was still intact. I'd remembered seeing several rooms listed on the map that were set apart from the main hallways and chambers. I was happy that I'd remembered them because they would have been difficult to find on our own. "We'll be safe here," I said, stepping aside to let Magoichi through with Oyu. I walked further inside and carefully scanned for any demons that might have been waiting for us. The air, however, was stale and I could tell that nobody had been to this section of the castle for years.

I opened a second door in the wall, revealing a smaller room off to the side. "Oyu can rest in here while we wait," I said. It would be easier to defend the main room if she wasn't underfoot when the demons appeared. He nodded and placed her on the floor, taking off his vest and bundling it under her head. I let my eyes drift over his bare chest before pulling them away. I'd take the time to stare at him later. I watched him bind her wounds, taking care to tie the bandages off tightly. Once he'd done what he could he reached into his pack to pull out a healing potion and poured it into her mouth. I grit my teeth to keep from saying anything. He could have used that later on! She would have been fine if we'd left her there, but he had to waste a healing potion on her. It was a good one too. I just knew that we'd miss that in the next few hours.

"Great, so how long do you want to wait?" I asked, sitting on the floor in the centre of our room once he'd gently slid the door closed behind him. I knew he wouldn't leave her behind after we'd carried her all the way there.

"Until she wakes. It shouldn't be too long." He sat down next to me.

"But we've got to go!" We didn't have time to sit around and wait for some woman to wake up!

"Don't worry," he said, pulling out his pipe and filling it with tobacco. "I doubt that it's a straight path to Nobunaga. There will probably be a few barriers left to break through before the end."

"How do you... know that?" I was surprised that he knew so much about what Jubei was doing.

"Ah..." he trailed off as he lit his pipe. "Just seems logical to me, really." He inhaled a long haul of smoke.

"Really? Are you sure it's not something else that that demon told you?" I asked as lightly as I could. This was picking at my curiosity and I didn't want to make him remember anything too painful.

"No," he said flatly, giving me a cold stare. "He said he saw Nobunaga defeated by Jubei. We have to go at our own pace. Otherwise..." he mumbled, seeming to have forgotten the pipe in his hand and staring into space instead.

"What?" I couldn't have heard him right.

His eyes snapped up to see mine. "Things just might not happen the way they should. We can't change the way things were meant to happen..."

"Magoichi," I asked, worried. "You're not making any sense."

"Neither did he," he said, seeming to come back to reality. "I tried asking him, but we were too busy with other things for me to ask, alright?"

I snapped my mouth shut at the look he gave me. I wasn't going to ask any more if it involved... that. "Well," I said, trying to think of something else to say. "So what about Oyu?" I asked. "Why did you save her? I don't trust her at all!"

"So I noticed," he chuckled, passing me the pipe.

I took it, my hands more sure this time than the last. "She can't be trusted," I said, putting the end to my lips and sucking a bit of the smoke into my mouth. I inhaled, feeling my lungs protest but grinned to myself when I didn't cough. The tobacco didn't taste as sweet as it smelled, but it was still something that I could see myself doing with Magoichi more often. When I finally released my breath, I let the smoke out through my nose and winced at the sting it left in my sinuses. "'Oyu isn't even her real name. She's going to betray us!"

I couldn't understand why he didn't see what I saw. How could I trust someone like that? She'd abandon us the moment we needed her help. Women were weak. He didn't seem to care about what I'd said, or if he did, he didn't think much of it. "Her real name is 'Oiichi'," he said with a smirk, taking the pipe back from me.

Oiichi... that name sounded so familiar. It was-! "Nobunaga's sister? Why would you save her?" How could he think that it was perfectly normal to trust the enemy's family?

"Forget it, Kotaro," he mumbled as he put the pipe between his lips again. "She's here to stop him too, just like we are."

"Or maybe she's here to spy on Jubei! Did you ever think of that?"

"I'm pretty sure that's not-"

I had to cut him off. "It is! Women are evil. She's the only one here who could betray us."

"Oh, I think you're being too hard on her. I've known some women who were actually very nice." He grinned. Damn I hated it.

"I'm serious about this!" Why wouldn't he listen to me? "Quit pretending this is nothing!"

"I'm serious too, Kotaro! The only difference is that I'm not ready to kill her just because she's related to Nobunaga!" He angrily tapped his pipe out on the floor. My eyes followed the cinder as it rolled along the floor to smolder near my feet.

"I'm not saying we should kill her," I said, trying to think of how to put my feelings into words. When did I switch to the defensive? "I just don't trust her."

"Kind of like how you didn't trust me at first?" He was looking at me intently. "Did you want to kill me too?"

I thought I saw his eye twitch, as if he was trying to keep a straight face, but I wasn't sure. "No! You were different!" I blurted out. I sucked at skilled conversation. It wasn't that I couldn't hold a conversation but that ninja's are taught stealth and we don't usually talk to our targets before we kill them. In the art of skilled conversation I was poorly armed before Magoichi. "I-I just wanted to-"

"Spy on me for a little bit?" His tone was calm, bordering on warning.

"N-no! You just seemed interesting and I was bored and-"

"You were bored?" I felt the accusation in his tone. The unspoken command that told me to go on, and I couldn't stop myself from obeying.

For a second it seemed as if we were strangers again, sitting in the upper level of the bar in Imasho. I hadn't been able to read him at all then and it suddenly seemed as if what had happened between us since then hadn't been real. He'd become so cold all of the sudden. "Well," I started, keeping my gaze fixed with his. "I'd already finished gathering all the information that I could on Nobunaga's demons. The lower level ones aren't too bright, so it was almost too easy to follow them around and find out what I needed to know. After all that I was hiding out in the bar and waiting for something to happen."

"So I was just a distraction until the real mission started?" He looked upset.

"At first, yes," I said, "but that changed after I'd followed you around for a bit," I quickly added.

I'd been so sure of myself before I'd met him. After that? I saw that in the end my life meant nothing. I should have seen it earlier. Ninja's lived in the shadows. We were invisible. I could never be remembered as anybody who did anything, even if I stopped the demons from winning by myself.

"So when did you decide that I was someone to trust?"

"After you saved me," I said without pause. He'd gone out of his way to help me when he could have left me to die. He smiled and I just wanted to wipe it off his face. "I didn't really have a choice but to trust you, you know. I couldn't move!"

He nodded and I saw him relax. I leaned back on my hands, watching him pack his pipe with tobacco again. "So, when did you decide to trust me?" I asked, suddenly curious to know the answer.

His eyebrow rose a fraction, his fingers never stopping in their task. "It wasn't really a decision," he said, lighting the pipe. "I always knew you were trustworthy. You're very open..." he inhaled the smoke, but I didn't fail to notice that he never looked at me.

The pause between us would have been longer, but I felt the air between us thicken with tension and he opened his mouth to speak. "Why do you distrust women, Kotaro?"

'Because they can't be trusted!' Is what I wanted to yell at him, but I stopped myself the moment I drew the breath to say it. He wanted to know the real answer. I looked away, turning my head to rest my chin on my shoulder. "They've never given me a reason to trust." I said, failing at keeping the bitterness from my words. I couldn't help it. "S-she abandoned me."

I was proud that I kept the tightness out of my throat as I said it. I hated feeling sad, and telling him about it was ruining my mood. The air between us filled with smoke as he exhaled, and I breathed in the scent. "Who did? Your wife? Girlfriend?"

"My mother!" I snapped, "She ran away from the village when I was born. She left me to be passed around between the men and women in the village to raise me." I shivered. It had only been one of the men who'd had wandering hands, but every time he'd touched me I'd cursed my mother for leaving me with him. "The only woman that I should have been able to trust let me down. They're more deceitful than men. At least on a battlefield your enemy will let you know who he is!" I pulled my knees against my chest, wrapping my arms around them. "You wouldn't understand..."

"I never knew my mother," he cut me off. "She died when I was very young. But even though I grew up without her, I never once thought that-"

"But she died!" I blurted out, cutting him off. "My mother left me! Mine had a choice and she decided that she didn't want me! What do you think is worse?" I wiped at my eyes, angrily forcing the tears away. "At least you can tell yourself that she would have wanted you! I wish mine had died! At least that way I could pretend!"

The moment the words left my mouth I knew I regretted saying it, but a gasp from the other side of the room stopped any apology I might have had.

Oyu was awake.

"Kotaro..."

"You can't fool me," I told her. "I know that you're Nobunaga's sister. You're just here to help him out!"

"That's not true!" She took a step towards me but I was on my feet and reaching for my blade. I didn't care what Magoichi said. We couldn't trust her!

"Don't," he said, putting his hand on my arm, stopping me from pulling out my kunai. "First we should-"

"Kotaro," she cut him off and took a few steps towards me, still clutching at her bandaged ribs. "It's not what you think. I can explain."

"Fine," I said, folding my arms over my chest. "I'm listening." I was sure to keep my hand on my weapon, ready to pull it free if she made a move. She was probably trying to get my guard down so she could attack.

"I-I'm here to stop my brother." She didn't look away from me and I had to give her points for lying with such a straight face. "He may be my brother, but I married into the Asai clan... and Nobunaga intends to destroy it! I had to stop him."

What a convenient story. "You could have been sent to spy on the Asai clan," I told her, never looking away from her for a minute. "I still think you're helping your brother."

"But that's the last thing I would do. I-I'd kill him if it meant saving my daughters!"

This was new. "What?" Magoichi and I asked at the same time. It seemed he was just as surprised as I was.

"After I was married, I found out that my husband had three daughters from his first wife." I watched her carefully, trying to pick up on anything that would prove that she was lying. I hated to admit it, but her hurt looked pretty real. "At first I felt betrayed that he didn't tell me... but now I realize that they're looking up to me and that I have to protect them. I came to kill my brother and keep them safe."

"Why the hell do you care about them?" I had to ask. "They're not even your children."

I'd never forget the look she gave me. It was the kind of look that you would remember years later and cringe when you saw it again. It made me feel like an idiot for not knowing the answer. "Because I'm their mother." Her tone was shocked, as if I'd asked the most heartless question in the world. "Even if we're not related by blood, I won't leave them."

I swear all I wanted to do was cut her down right there. I didn't even know what it was that made me so mad. Here she was trying to save her daughters that weren't even hers, and just the thought of it made my blood boil.

I reached for my blade again. My own mother had left me behind the first chance she got, and here Oyu was, ready to die for her children. It just wasn't fair!

I sensed Magoichi moving, putting his hands out to stop me, but I moved out of the way. Everything was happening in slow motion. I was a great ninja; I just needed a bit of drive. My feet echoed in my ears as I dashed towards Oyu, my blade singing as I pulled it free of its sheath, ready to bathe in blood. Her blood. She had the nerve to lie so straight-faced to me, and if she was telling the truth it was all the more reason for me to kill her.

I slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. She was lying. She had to be. I knelt over her, looking closely at her. No woman would fight for children that weren't hers. If my mother couldn't bother to care, how could she? I could feel my blood was rushing through my veins, giving me strength to do what I had to. "I can't let you betray us!" I yelled, raising my kunai above her. "I know you're lying," I tightened my grip, "and if you're not?" My blade struck down towards her throat, "Then your daughters will never know-!" The blade bit into the floorboard beside her head. It dug halfway into the wood before I could stop it. Her eyes were wide with shock and I stared back into them with the same horror she must have felt.

My kunai was firmly planted in the floor and I numbly pulled my hand away from it. My fingers fought to keep their grip around the handle as I stared blankly at her. I'd almost killed her. A shaky breath filled the room and it took me a second to realize that it had come from me. I covered my mouth with my hand, trembling as I saw what I'd almost done.

"Kotaro." I'd almost killed her. I stood up from her and fell back onto the floor, my eyes still locked with hers. "Kotaro." I'd... almost... killed her... "Kotaro..."

"I almost killed her!" I yelled, burying my face in my hands. I felt Magoichi kneeling beside me and he put his arms around me as I felt the scream inside of me clawing its way out. Why did it hurt so much?

"Kotaro, it's okay..." My hands were clawing at his back, trying to hold him tighter. I listened to his calming tone before realizing what he was saying.

"How can you say that?" I asked, my throat tightening as I forced the words past. "She has... I almost..." I turned my head to look at Oyu. She was propping herself up from where I'd knocked her down and I immediately saw the pained look on her face.

Why would I just notice this now?

Why out of all the times that I'd seen her and known she was the enemy would I not notice or care if she was in pain? "Oyu..." I instinctively reached for my pack when she winced again, my fingers numbly worming their way inside until I felt them run across a packet of medicine. Before I'd cursed Magoichi for healing her, and now... was she really an enemy?

I pushed myself up from Magoichi and crawled over Oyu. "Kotaro?" She was confused. I gave her the medicine.

I watched her slip it past her lips and I felt him kneeling behind me. "What made you change your mind?" he asked, his hand on my shoulder.

"I... I didn't..." I whispered, "but if I killed her and she was telling the truth, then..." I shuddered, "Her daughters would never have known what happened to her." I wiped at the tears that burned in the corners of my eyes. "If she's telling the truth, then I don't want them to think that she abandoned them. Especially if she's here to kill her brother for them..." I inhaled a sharp breath. "But, if you're lying," I felt the anger in me fighting for dominance. She looked at me questioningly but I couldn't finish my words so I let the unspoken promise hang in the air between us.

I hoped she was telling the truth.

~End chapter eleven~