As ordered, Umeko met Kiyoshi in the rose garden with her tessen tucked into her obi. He was sitting on a stone bench, staring into the darkened branches of the roses with a serious expression. He heard her soft footsteps and his eyes closed as he sighed softly. "Konbanwa, Fudo-sensei," she said softly, still unsure of their relationship after the previous evening.

He rubbed the nape of his neck and chuckled. "That is the first time I've ever heard my name and sensei used together." Kiyoshi rose to his feet and turned to face her, noting her uncertainty.

"I brought my fan as you asked."

"Good. First, a little verbal lesson," he indicated for her to sit and she did so," I will admit that the training of kunoichi is different from that of men. In that regard I'm limited in my knowledge. Thus, I will do my best to instruct you. Do you know why kunoichi are so important?"

Umeko thought a moment. "Because they're women. They can move about without being noticed. And they are underestimated."

"Exactly. That is why they use weapons that are very commonplace. A woman with a fan and hair pins isn't out of the ordinary. However, when that fan is iron tipped, such as yours, and the hair pins are actually poison tipped needles, they can be useful,"

"They learn everything that a noblewoman would, ikebana and the tea ceremony, as well as everything male ninja would, taijutsu and stealth. They are, in effect, the perfect assassins. Underestimated in ability and intelligence. Unnoticed in households or streets. So you see why it is important that they learn everything perfectly."

"What kinds of weapons do they use exactly? You mentioned needles and fans but that doesn't seem like much to work with," Umeko commented, her eyes watching as he paced leisurely from one side of the clearing to the other.

As he talked, he was in fact listening for any signs of people around. He had developed his senses well enough to sense other chakras. Currently there was nothing more than animals around. "There is the neko-te. These are metal claws attached to the fingers and poisoned. The tanto, which is a small knife, and shuriken. But they also have themselves as last resorts. They train to use an attackers size and momentum against them."

"Will you be teaching me any of this?"

"The fan of course. And some basic taijutsu. At least to begin with."

"Can we get started?" Umeko asked impatiently.

He glanced upward and noted the sun's position. "It's getting late. We shall begin tomorrow. However, I have an assignment for you. I want to get a gauge of your level right now. Tonight, try to sneak outside to this garden without being spotted."

"And if I get caught?"

"A kunoichi must think on her feet. You'll think of some excuse." He bowed with a smirk before turning to leave.

That night Umeko waited until to the moon was well overhead and she heard the guards leave. Every night the guards in this wing would meet in an empty room for a game of shogi. The paper door to Umeko's room slid open silently and she stepped into the hallway, keeping to the wall. Here the boards were held together instead of kept loose and squeaked less.

She kept her weight evenly spread across her two feet as she moved. The light shone through the halfway open door to the guard's game room. Mentally she gave thanks that the floorboards had been designed with the weight of a man in mind. She paused at the doorframe and listened to the men within.

Their laughter was loud and when she peered around the corner she saw that they all were hunched over the board with their backs to the door. Quickly she sprinted across the doorway and down the hall silently. At the staircase she stopped and leant against the wall, her breath ragged.

After regaining her courage, she continued down the stairs to the first floor. Here the guards were much more prolific and more attentive, some standing at posts while others roamed the halls. "All right, around this corner, down the hall, to the right, through the kitchen, and out the side door," she said in her mind, drawing a mental map of her route.

She waited until no sounds were heard then slinked around the corner and followed her plan, ducking into a recess in the wall when a guard came out of the kitchen. When he'd disappeared, she went through the door and across the room to the final door. The door was locked but that was quickly solved as she slipped outside into the moonlight.

She let out a sigh of relief and went around the side of the building toward the gardens. Only to come face to face with a young guard, who jumped back in surprise and brought his naginata up to bear. "Who…who goes-oh, gomen nasai, Nagamasa-sama. What are you doing out here?

At the sight of the long pole with a curved blade on the end, much like a halberd, Umeko gasped and jumped back as well. "I was just going for a walk," she said after a moment, thinking up a reason to be outside.

"At this time of night?"

"Hai. I wanted time to think."

"Well, you really should get an escort if you're going outside. It could have been someone other than me out here," he admonished.

"Indeed, like one of those ninjas," she thought to herself. Aloud she said, "Gomen nasai, I will be more careful. Oyasumi." She bowed, a movement he returned, and then headed back inside to her room.

The next morning the opening of her doors and a chatter of voices awaked Umeko. "Nani?" she asked, turning to look at her two cousins.

"Oh, Umeko-chan! Haven't you heard? Tomorrow Tanaki-san will be arriving. He plans to hold the wedding within days!" The younger said.

Umeko blinked and let her mind process this. The two girls ignored their cousin’s silence and began speaking quickly about wedding kimonos and flower arrangements. Umeko suddenly snapped back to reality and hustled the two girls out of her room with promises to find them later. Quickly she pulled on a furisode and hurried outside to the gardens.

The sun overhead told her that Kiyoshi probably wouldn't be there yet but she had to think. The koi pond where they'd first met had remained unchanged and she settled before it on the ground, staring into the water as if searching for an answer.

Kiyoshi, meanwhile, was pacifying his supervisor. Someone had messed up on a financial account and Kiyoshi had been charged with making amendments. Finally getting away from the man he noted the position of the shadows on the floor. "Time to meet Umeko," he thought, turning a corner.

Passing the guards unharassed, he made his way leisurely toward the gardens. A pair of miko passed him and they bowed their heads to one another, before the pair moved on toward the castle. Kiyoshi passed through the entry to the gazebo and paused as he saw Umeko. It was exactly like the first time he had saw her. She knelt beside the small pond, and to his surprise, was wearing the exact same kimono as that day long ago.

The furisode of light purple, with silver and darker purple designs of plum trees and koi fish, fit her differently now. Through their training she had gained more muscle tone but not enough to draw notice. To Kiyoshi it was plain as the flood of dark hair flowing down her back. Then again, he was trained to notice everything.

At that moment the clouds passed over the sun and a single break cast several rays down on her and the pond. The entire surface seemed to be made of gold, as the koi fish came up in hopes of food. "Utsukushii…" he whispered to himself.

At the sound she half turned, her torso forming a right angle to her lower limbs. Her palms met the ground to help keep her balanced as her wide black eyes met Kiyoshi. "Oh! It's you. You scared me," she said, her heart thudding against its cage.

He chuckled and walked forward, clearing his head of its previous thoughts. "You must be slacking if you didn't hear me." He settled himself on the ground beside her.

"I was thinking. Sensei?"

"Hai?"

"My cousins came in today. Tomorrow…the man I'm arranged to marry will come to finalize everything," she looked down toward the pond, biting her lower lip to stave off the tears the threatened to spill over.

"I see." He watched her silently, sensing that there was more.

She looked back into his eyes. "Please Sensei! Please take me away. Take me to the shinobi village. To another city. I don't care! I'll change my name and you can leave me. Please, just don't leave me here!" she pleaded suddenly, the dam breaking to allow her emotions and tears to spill forward.

He let his breath out slowly as his mind raced through the possibilities. His village was in need of new genin, as most new recruits came from orphans or families in the village. She would also be a great bargaining tool against Oda. On the other hand, the lengths to which Oda would go to enforce the marriage wasn't known. Could he chance Oda leading an army against his clan?

The sense of honor he had been born with prodded him toward taking her away with him. He sighed and half-cursed his inner voice. “Tonight you will meet me here. I know it is sudden and you have no training. So this is a test. If you can make it here, I will take you to my village and train you along the way.”