“What, you ain’t never seen a lady before? Sketch a picture, it’ll last longer!”

Something—or more correctly, somebody—made a loud crash outside the lord’s residence.

“I guess Ane is here,” Sou muttered to himself. Moments later the shoji screens flew open. One of them hit the wall so hard it fell of its tracks and landed on the floor. Sou watched it arc like a rainbow. It was almost beautiful in a way.

“Sou-chan! You great big piece of shit!”

Onibaba had arrived.

“Ane, it’s nice to see you ag-”

A fist connected squarely with his jaw. Sou recoiled in pain. Ane had certainly not lost any of her strength during her period of exile. The samurai was almost as big as Sou; together they made a fearsome team on the battlefield. Where Sou liked to wear red, she wore black, and the darker, the better. Even from a distance they were unmistakable, Sou with his oni mask and Ane with her onibaba mask. The foot soldiers referred to them as the ‘Oni Futari,’ the demon couple. Their relationship was far from romantic, however; Ane had her heart set on Yuki ever since Sou could remember. Through the pain setting his jaw alight he wondered if she’d heard the news yet.

“Yes, nice to see you again…” Sou repeated, rubbing his jaw.

“You’re lucky I don’t chop your useless head off right this instant, you useless sack of meat.”

She certainly hadn’t lost any of her fire, either. Riko came running in, sweat trickling down her brow and breathing hard.

“Sou, Ane is… here…”

Sou forced a smile. “Yes. Thank you, Riko.”

“I’ll just… be going now…”

Ane walked over as Riko mouthed silent apologies and pulled Sou into a giant bear hug.

“How someone as stupid as you survived all this time without me I’ll never know.”

“It’s truly a mystery,” Sou replied, coughing as she squeezed all the air out of his lungs.

Ane, daughter of Baba Junpei, was affectionately called Onibaba by the men. She reveled in the name and made her mask to fit it. Facing an actual onibaba would be easier than trying to deal with Ane and her fiery fits and tempers, but she had skills necessary to Sou’s success, and if he was honest with himself, he missed having her around.

Ane let go of him and dropped to one knee, lowering her head.

“Yashiro-sama, my life and that of my kin are at your command. My sword is yours, my body is yours, not even death will sever my servitude and into the afterlife I will continue to serve your interests. I cannot make up for my past mistakes, but I will endeavour the rest of my life to make sure you won’t regret it. It is an honour to be able to serve you once more, my lord.”

Sou smiled. “Ane, stand up. The past is the past. I’m just glad you’re here now.”

She stood up and with a big smile hugged Sou again. “Come. Walk with me.”

They exited the lord’s residence and strolled down the path towards the main gates.

“I’m so sorry to hear about your father. He was a great man.”

“Thank you. That’s sort of why I’ve asked you here.”

“Who do you need me to kill?”

Patience never was her strong point.

“Kuroda Mitsuhide.”

“He killed your father?! That piece of…”

“The Kuroda have taken Hirozaka Castle. They killed Toshio’s father and all the men, women and children. I believe it was also him who had my father killed. I can’t just sit back and do nothing. We’re going to war, and I want you by my side.”

“Whatever you need, I’m your woman.”

Sou patted her on the shoulder. “I know you are, Ane.”

They stopped before the training grounds. Kazu was with his men, flashing around his new swords.

“Ah, good timing. Kazu, come here for a moment, I’d like to introduce you to someone.”

The smaller man ran over with his new swords in hand and halted when he saw who Sou was with.

“Ane, this is Mori Kazu. Kazu, this is Baba Ane.”

“Ni- nice to meet you,” Kazu bowed, his eyes wide with fear. Ane stood a clear foot taller than him, and like Sou roughly twice his width as well.

“Kazu, huh? You any good with those things?” Ane nodded towards the swords he was just showing off.

“Ane…”

“Sshhh. I just wanna see how good the little guy is.”

“Little… guy…” Kazu whispered. His eyes made contact with Sou, both offended and scared.

“Come, little one. I could use some exercise.”

She’d just travelled several days straight and wanted ‘a little exercise.’ The woman was crazy. That was why Sou needed her.

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna kill ya. I don’t promise I won’t cut anything off, but I’m not gonna kill ya.” Her smile was like that of a feral animal about to devour its prey. That probably wasn’t too far off the mark.

Ane moved over to the open field and motioned for Kazu to follow. He cast a nervous glance at Sou to see if he was really supposed to go ahead with this, and sighed when nobody stopped him.

“Come.”

Kazu drew his sword. He wielded it effortlessly, taking a few test swings as Ane casually circled him, waiting. He jabbed at her, testing its reached. She stood aside, watching as he stabbed air. She hadn’t even removed her own sword yet.

Sou really hoped she wouldn’t kill him.

Kazu began a flurry of strikes that Ane deflected with her scabbard. He was holding back, testing her. Ane smacked him on the forehead, causing him to cry out.

“Stop playing, little man.”

Kazu’s face contorted in rage. A welt was already developing, angry and red. He pushed forward again with the power of his rage propelling him. Sou grimaced. This was about to end badly.

Almost before the thought had even finished, Kazu was face-first in the dirt, Ane’s boot on the back of his neck. His sword was just out of reach. Well, at least she didn’t kill him? That was something. He struggled but she just pushed down harder.

“Sou, what have you been teaching these peasants since I was gone? If this is the calibre of your army, then we should prepare to meet our ancestors right now.”

Sou gave her a pained grin. Nobody said it was going to be easy.