The Beauty of the West: The Gold Route

Chapter Nine: Ex Best Friends

((Y/N)'s POV)

I had felt so refreshed after speaking with Lord Ieyasu. I felt like I was ready to take on any training Sensei threw at me. I spent the remainder of the day in my room and went to sleep.
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I woke up the next day and did my routine; made breakfast for me and Sensei, and got ready for training.

"So. How did it go yesterday?" Sensei asked, taking a sip of her morning tea.

"It went okay...he invited me to the summer festival. I've never been to a festival, Sensei." I explained.

"We'll think of something when the time comes."

"...we?" I asked, but quietly, as if I were afraid to respond that way. From what I gathered, she didn't seem like the type to dress up, or get excited for that kind of thing.

After breakfast, I stretched a little before readying myself to enter the gauntlet again, confident that I was going to do even better than the day before, with record time.

"Just a moment, Little Raven" Sensei stopped me from readying the gun she gave me. "We are going to be doing something different today." She took my handgun and gave me a bigger one, something she called a rifle. "I want you to try going through the course with this. It will be a little harder, since there are only two shots to a round. You load it like this." She showed me quickly, not really giving me a chance to see what she was doing. "Ready?"

I was up for the challenge. I really liked the feel of this gun better than the handgun anyway.

Going through the gauntlet slower with the rifle allowed me to be more accurate.  It was easy that time.

When I returned to Sensei, she was talking to someone else. He looked strange to me, but then again, so did everyone.

"Tell that thick headed pirate to meet me here. This is ridiculous, even for him." Sensei stated, before the man made his way in the other direction.

"What's going on, Sensei?" I asked. She only smirked before answering me.

"Someone has it out for your man." She said, expecting to get a rise out of me, I suppose.

"My man?" I asked.

"Ieyasu."

"Oh, he isn't...we're not..."

"Perhaps not yet, but I can tell there's a spark."

"Sensei...." I grunted under my breath.

"Anyway his best friend wants to kill him. He is saying Ieyasu killed one of his own crew."

"He wouldn't...would he?"

"If their friendship means anything to him, he wouldn't.  Do you see Ieyasu as a man who is capable of such a thing?"

"No, he seems really nice to me. He has talked to me about peace for this country. Wouldn't killing his best friend's man stir things up a bunch?"

"Exactly." She crossed her arms. "So I'm sending you on a mission."

"What?? Isn't it a little early for that Sensei?"

"I call the shots here,  Raven. And since it's the life of Ieyasu hanging in the balance, I know you'll do well."

"You're not going to put a gun to his head again, are you?" I asked, nervously.

"You are to travel to find who is really responsible for the death of the crewman, and prove Ieyasu's innocence."

"Okay, but wouldn't you be...I don't know... better at this than I would?" I asked. I mean, I hadn't been training long...

"With all my experience,  yes, but remember,  I must remain here, since I am in alliance with Ieyasu's forces. If there were going to be a fight here I have to fight on their side."

We looked and saw someone approaching us in the distance. He wore a purple jacket-like garment,  exposing his chest and abdomen,  like guys seemed to like doing.  I wasn't looking...

He also wore white pants had an eyepatch. Maybe this was the pirate I heard Sensei mention a few moments prior.

"Sayaka, there you are." He greeted, carrying an anchor on his shoulder. Why He did that,  I could never tell you-atleast for now.

"I told you never to call me that. And now, I really mean It. I have a pupil."

Now, Sayaka sounded more like a woman's name. I never knew that she had taken a new name. I guess you learn something new everyday.

"I don't think Ieyasu killed your crewman. I'm sending this one to help you find whoever did." Sensei explained.

"A kid??" He seemed shocked that she would even suggest such a thing.

"Don't let her looks deceive you, she is quite the mercenary. Especially when Ieyasu's life hangs in the balance." She teased. "She will be travelling with you. So don't let any harm come to her."

"A mercenary needing protecting? Surely you jest."

"I'm well aware that she can take care of herself.  This is a personal request. This little Raven has grown on me quite a bit." She smiled and ruffled my hair.

I let the two of them talk while I took in the fact that I would be travelling with this man and his crew. I knew nothing about any of them and for all I knew they could have been a bunch of perverted, abusive men. Just like Honno-ji. 

....I was thinking about it too much. I was assuming the worst of the situation at hand. Sensei knew this pirate named Motochika and thought of him as a friend. So, I concluded that he couldn't have been that bad...right?