8 The Kozuki household

Entering Bakura town, it was clear from the beginning that they weren't exactly well received there.

Yasu could feel it, almost everyone that lay their eyes on them would feel disgust, embarrassment or hatred, he was completely surrounded by negative emotions directed towards them.

'Why would they?' Looking at the back of Oden he started wondering.

One usually knows when he is not wanted and Oden probably wasn't stupid enough to not be aware of the people's feelings towards him, so why didn't he do anything? Why does he act as if nothing?.

If Oden didn't do anything, then Yasu would respect him and also keep his mouth shut about the topic.

"So, where are we heading to?" In all their journey he didn't mention nothing more than that they were going to Bakura town in Kuri, so Yasu was curious.

'He asked me to be his servant so he should be someone important, right?'

To this, the only thing that Oden did was to point with his finger at where they would be staying.

Following his finger, Yasu felt the outline of a castle, all the way up the mountain and his brain just stopped working, he looked at the castle, then at Oden, then at the castle, then at Oden again.

"You're the Daimyō!!!!" Yasu screamed not believing what he was seeing.

"Yeah, so you finally see how great I am?" Oden responds in a smug tone as if he was bragging about his position as Daimyō.

"Huh, I guess they really give the title of Daimyō to anyone this days" The previous excitement in Yasu's voice is nowhere to be seen and now everything that's left is a complete dissapointment in knowing this musclehead was someone in charge of the entire region.

"You brat!!!"

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Getting both off the horse after a heated argument about who was dumber than the other, they start climbing the stairs to the Kuri castle.

Reaching the top, a blur fly past Yasu hitting Oden square in the chest.

"Dad!!" The voice of a kid reaches the ears of Yasu.

"Uhaha! Momo!"

In the hands of Oden he's holding a small black haired child dressed in a pink kimono, Oden spins around with his child making him laugh at this.

Yasu looks at this scene before he hears another voice at his side.

"Welcome home Oden-san" walking towards them carrying a little baby with green hair in her arms, a green haired woman also wearing a pink kimono greets Oden with a gentle smile.

"I'm home, Toki!" Oden says happily with a smile of his own.

Having already greeted her husband, Toki turns to Yasu still smiling.

"Oh?, and who are you?"

'A goddess' That's the only thing that comes to his mind when looking at the woman in front of him, her presence radiated calmness and a feeling as if he was home, she could make even the fiercest storms disappear with a gentle blow of her voice.

"My name is Yasu Mochizuki, Toki-sama" Yasu bows down while introducing himself to the goddess right in front of him "Oden-san brought me with him as his servant."

'When did this kid started using honorifics?" Looking at Yasu bowing to his wife he feels somehow insulted, Yasu never used honorifics with him on their journey and now he was a complete gentleman?.

"Oh? I see, then you're welcomed here, make yourself at home" Toki then turns to her husband with the same smile, but Oden only feels shivers running through his spine with Toki looking at him.

"Oden-san, we almost don't have any money to feed everyone, but you keep bringing people" her voice sounds like the most beautiful melody but her tone was anything but gentle.

'Huh?' Looking at Toki, the image of a goddess in his mind suddenly turned into one of a demon with just hearing a single phrase, this left Yasu completely baffled.

"So I guess you can skip dinner, right Oden-san?"

"Toki!!!! I'm really hungry!" while Oden is complaining as a child, the actual child in his arms laughs at seeing his father be punished.

"Why don't you come inside?, Yasu-kun" With his husband throwing a tantrum, she turns to Yasu, completely ignoring the man-child behind her.

At this point, Yasu's head is almost smoking, one second she is the most gentle person on the planet, the other, she has Oden complaining like a child and then acts as if nothing happened.

' I guess that a man so 'unique' as Oden can only have a wife as unique as him, at least it looks like it's just the two of them'

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' I take back what I said, I was wrong, I was utterly and completely wrong' How could he have known that Oden servants were... also unique.

Half of them were almost completely normal, except for their highs, from what Yasu could sense from their auras they were normal, but then you get to the other half and... he didn't know what to think about them.

The most normal out of the second half composed of five was one with his face almost as big as his body, how can that even work? Is the size of his brain almost that of a beach ball for him to be like that?.

Then you got to the other, he was completely normal, except for the minute detail that he was freaking five meters tall!!, how did he even fit in the room?.

And Yasu could swear that the other three weren't even humans!, what the freak were they!?, at this point he was absolutely lost.

'Does this make me racist?' He was very confused.

"So guys, this is Yasu, he will be with us now" Oden's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he felt the piercing gazes of the nine servants.

'Why are they all staring at me like that? Oh my god, they absolutely caught my thoughts of them, I knew I shouldn't have had those racist thoughts!'

The nine of them didn't say a word, they just looked at Yasu with intensity.

"Come on guys, don't be like that with him" Oden tries to defuse the situation but it doesn't really do much, Oden hits his palm with his fist as if he just got the best idea ever " I know, why don't you have a little spar in the courtyard?"

'He just threw me under the bus!' Yasu was in complete disbelief hearing Oden words, thankfully no one would accep-

"I'll do it"

'This motherf-' How long did it take him?, a second? Two? This guy was just waiting for the opportunity to beat him!.

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In the courtyard, Yasu was holding a katana facing a black haired man with glasses and a very long ponytail.

All the others were at the side, watching the match that was about to occur in silence.

The face of disbelief that Yasu showed before was replaced by a serious one, when he faced against Oden it wasn't really a fight, Oden only threw a casual swing, one powerful enough to make his arms go numb, the guy right in front of him didn't feel as strong as Oden, but he still was leagues above him.

Both Yasu and the man with glasses just stared at each other, almost daring the other to make a move.

Without any words, the man kicks the floor launching himself towards Yasu with his blade held over his head, snapping the blade down to Yasu, he raises his katana parallel to the floor, both swords collide with neither of both giving away ground.

Yasu feels again the sensation of his arms going numb but less than with Oden, the two keep adding force to their swords making little sparks fly away.

Feeling the pressure increasing by the moment, Yaus tilts his sword to the left making the blade of his opponent slide along his.

Showing his skill, the man with glasses immediately follows with a quick upwad slash, Yasu leans back still getting a cut on the cheek.

Before he has time to process it, the blade comes down on him again, making him block it rather awkwardly, followed by another slash and another and another.

A barrage of cuts rains down on Yasu forcing him to make sloppy blocks and dodges, with every second a new cut appears in his body and with every second he takes a step back, the standstill of before was completely gone, replaced by an overwhelming succession of attacks with no windows to counter.

Both swordsmen were totally focused on the battle, there's no time for any passing thought and just one mistake can decide the fight.

With each attack Yasu blocks, less cuts appear on his body and every step back becomes smaller and smaller, Yasu's sword starts getting faster trying to catch up to his opponent's blade as if it was a race.

Eventually, they stayed still again, no one giving away ground to the other, both swords are dancing in a sharp waltz.

'Not yet'

The swords keep getting faster and faster with neither of them moving from their spots.

'Not yet'

Both swords start partially turning into blurs spitting out sparks starting to look like fireworks.

'Now!'

Tilting to the left, the sword almost grazes his right cheek cutting some hair strands.

Time itself slows down to barely a crawl for Yasu, he sees his opponent's blade pass him by his side at the speed of a snail.

Yasu takes a deep breath, he feels the air filling his lungs to the top, he pours every drop of strength into his muscles, shattering the wooden handle under his hands and with his muscles tensed to the maximum he swings the sword towards his opponent.

The sheer speed of the blade pushes the air to the side creating a loud hissing sound.

The power behind the swing totally surprises Yasu, and from what he can feel, his opponent feels the same.

And with the most powerful attack that Yasu has ever done in his life, he absolutely misses.

Before his blade strikes his target, the man jumps back making the sword cut through the air and Yasu to lose his balance not used to that level of force, almost falling to the ground.

Regaining his footing, Yasu looks at his opponent who's some meters away from him, the man slowly raises his sword over his head.

Yaus prepares for him doing another dash, but instead the man brings his sword down still far away from him.

'What the hell is he doin-'

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All of Yasu's senses and his weird sixth sense scream at him in his ear to get away, almost by primal instinct, Yasu jumps to the side landing face first on the ground.

"Aghh! What was tha-"

Crash!

Before he can finish his sentence, a loud sound is heard, still on the floor, Yasu looks at the side seeing the top half of a tree on the floor, perfectly cut by the middle diagonally.

Instantly, Yasu's head shuts off, incapable of understanding what just happened.

"That was a pretty good fight!" Turning his head, Yasu feels the aura of the man who almost split him in half now exuding excitement and relief.

'REALLY! WHO THE HELL ARE THESE GUYS!!'

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Ok! another chapter, first real fight, what did you think?

I don't know if sundays i will be able to post a chapter so I hope you like this one.