<div class="floatright">(http://www.wallpaperup.com/uploads/wallpapers/2016/08/25/1011752/big_thumb_b4c2ef92813c7b92e0a79c69acfd8d8c.jpg)</div><strong>Hisayo Yamashita (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=274532.msg13531034#msg13531034)</strong><br/><strong>Time</strong>: Y0S3, first month<br/><strong>Location</strong>: River Bandits Castle<br/><strong>Tagged</strong>: Akari Hifuki<br/><br/>Bloodspattered, wounded and ferocious, Yamashita fought with the last of her soldiers in the castle's courtyard, neither able to retreat nor press further into the keep. There was a fury in her movements, a sense of fatalism as she watched her troops cut down one by one, by little more than rabble armed with poorly made weapons. It would have been too easy to despise them, to curse fate for this defeat, but in her heart Yamashita understood that the commander facing her had won because they had fought better and positioned their troops better. She fought on, fatigue and blood loss draining the strength from her blows a fraction at a time, but in the end, she had only the bitterest respect for her unseen rival.<br/><br/>A well timed blow from a pitchfork knocked her backwards against the wall, opening up a gap through which a sharpened scythe plunged into the exposed flank of the soldier she had been beside. Struggling upwards, she dodged the scythe's backswing at her knees, her tachi sliding into the peasant's chest through his limited armour. The blade caught on his ribs as she pulled it out, and in that single moment's delay, the soldier on her other side dropped as an axe took off half his head, spraying blood and grey matter across Yamashita's right shoulder. Wheeling around, she darted after the axe wielder, and the pitchfork slammed into her ribs, the blow sending her to her knees but not piercing her armour to make the wound fatal. The axe haft caught her across the side of the head and she went down on all fours, her tachi skittering across the unevenly paved courtyard, out of her reach.<br/><br/>For a moment all she could taste was blood in her mouth, hear the cries of the wounded, see the rivulets of muddied crimson between the stones. Like rivers through mountains, blood found its way from tributaries and streams to wider, slower pathways, drenching the ground with the evidence of carnage. She could not defend herself, could not even get up, simply remained where she was, staring at the pools of dark gore which represented the tide of warfare overtaking the island, drowning them all in death. The anticipation of that last perfect, fatal blow was exquisite, both desired and abhorrent in a single conflicted spasm of emotion as she breathed out, made peace with herself and this ignominious failure.<br/>"See you soon, Satoru," she whispered, body tense with waiting.<br/><br/>But the blow never came, and when she looked up, Hisayo Yamashita found herself surrounded, encased within a circle of levelled weapons, and bloodthirsty faces. She sat up cautiously, resting on her knees as though on a tatami mat, uncertain as to what this reprieve might mean, and conscious of the weight of the tanto strapped to her thigh.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>Time</strong>: Y0S3, last month<br/><strong>Location</strong>: Neutral Territory<br/><strong>Tagged</strong>: Cervantes Del Mar<br/><br/>She watched him execute the bow with attempted goodwill, and tilted her head slightly in response, removing one glove and extending her bare hand towards him. Though her own life had not taken her beyond the borders of her own country, she had met a few foreigners both in her first career and in her time with Matsumoto. Shaking hands was a custom of some of those cultures, and while he attempted to meet her on her terms, she could not but attempt the same for him.<br/><br/>"I would like to negotiate a period of peace between our two peoples. We note that you have been successful in forays involving the swift deployment of your troops across the water, and believe that both the Gunba clan and your people would benefit from an assured lack of hostilities between us whilst the matter of the throne is determined. You have already extended your reach, and we have no immediate designs on these territories, but a dispute for the provinces along the western shore would seem ... inopportune at this time. Our clan claims these territories and we would prefer not to expend even the smallest effort in combating those whom we would prefer as our allies."<br/>