The sickness spread everywhere on Hojo lands. It had started with just a few reports of a new disease in different villages. Then the people that visiting the villages and bringing back the reports fell ill and it spread to others. Soon it was everywhere and things only worsened from there.

It spread through the land unopposed and wiped out whole villages in a matter of days. Those brave enough burned the bodies of those who'd died and the rest watched from a distance. A clear line began to form between those who were sick and those who weren't. Even in the beginning stages of the sickness, it was easy to tell that it was no common cold.

It started with constant fatigue, followed by coughing that rapidly became worse and worse until you were coughing up blood and your chest was tight and your throat scratchy. During that time, you would come down with a fever and lose weight rapidly. Eventually, you could only keep down water and the smallest amount of food. Anything else would come back up again. Eventually, you would either fight off the sickness or starve to death from the inability to keep enough food and water down to survive. Those who didn't starve to death, but didn't recover were no better off. They were the ones who died slowly, their immune systems destroyed by the disease.

And I had to fix it all. The healers were trying to find a cure, but it was raging out of control too quickly. It moved from person to person like wildfire and although quarantines had been attempted, it had failed almost before it started. My other thought had been to find experienced healers who were more practiced than the village healers were, but they couldn't be contacted, which left me with only one choice: to let the disease run its course.

Tatsu had disappeared for a week shortly before it all began, which hadn't helped my mood at all when all of the problems hit at once. For some reason, I'd found myself missing her, and when she finally did return, I felt strangely relieved that she wasn't injured.

Ryo knocked lightly on the wood frame of the door and I looked up from the random sketch I had begun to draw as I was trying to figure a way out of this. "Hai?"

Stepping inside, Ryo glanced around the room. It was mostly empty, with wood floors and gray stone wall. Near the door the wall was partially covered by a small painting of a cherry blossom tree in full bloom and another painting had been hung over my bed mat, this one of a samurai in battle. I sat at a small oak table in the center of the room on a deep red cushion, a piece of charcoal in my hand and a piece of paper sitting in front of me. A matching cushion sat empty on the opposite side of the table and Ryo took a seat.

"The outer villages are all being wiped out by the disease and it has spread to the army, although it hasn't gotten bad yet. The people are starting to lose any hope they had for a cure."

I added another line to the sketch on my paper and realized that it was starting to look like Tatsu. With a frown, I flipped the paper over and set the charcoal down. Something bothered me about the disease. "This popped into existence out of nowhere," I muttered, mostly to myself. "Something about this doesn't add up."

Ryo watched me silently, waiting to see what I came up with. But whatever it was I couldn't finish the thought, so I tried to think of someone who could help. Someone who would have healers or something that would be useful to me.

Mitsuhide waited for me on the path, three other samurai behind him. "Naoki-kun," he said as I approached him, flanked by Michi and Masaki.

"Mitsuhide-kun," I returned. "Why are you here?"

"I was heading somewhere. When I saw you, I decided to give you a little gift," he replied easily, the words flowing from his mouth like honey. Carefully examining his expression, I tried to find any clue that he might be lying, but he gave none.

"And what might this gift be?" I asked.

"Three rōnin to aid you and fifty more soldiers to add to your ranks," he said simply.

There were a lot of reasons not to trust that, but I knew that extra soldiers were always helpful and I'd gone on this trip for the sole purpose of hiring more rōnin. Refusing them didn't make much sense, so I nodded. "I accept your gift. Sayonara, Mitsuhide-kun."

He turned to leave but looked back at me one more time. "And Naoki-kun, if you ever need help, just send me a message."

"Daimyo Naoki?"

I looked up at him and realized that I'd begun to shade my drawing of Tatsu while I was thinking without even realizing I'd picked up the charcoal. "I need you to send a message through to Mitsuhide-kun asking him for aid," I said. "He may have experienced healers that can do something to counter it."

Ryo nodded and left. Looking down at the mostly finished drawing of Tatsu, I decided to finish it and then hide it under my bed mat where people wouldn't see it.

***

It was a week before I got any reply back from Mitsuhide. What I read in his message wasn't good.

Naoki-kun,

I have the healers and resources that you need to help with your disease, but if we're going to ally then I want a show of good faith. Oda-kun has ordered the Saika clan destroyed. If you agree to help me with that and bring your army, I will send my healers to help you contain and cure your sickness.

-Mitsuhide

Letting out a huff of annoyance, I crumpled up the paper and threw it against the wall angrily. There was no way I was going to betray the Saika clan. Not after I'd been instrumental in their alliance with the Asai clan, much to Kyou's annoyance. My own clan had allied with them too, because of the alliance with the Asai. Besides, if Oda wanted it, I certainly wasn't going to help him achieve it.

Kyou would help Magoichi defend his clan, despite their arguments. He wasn't going to abandon all of those people simply because of an argument with that clan's leader. And if Kyou was helping defend the Saika, I was going to help as well. My army was in relatively good condition, despite the disease, and I wasn't going to sit back and watch Kyou battle Oda for the second time without doing anything to help.

***

Someone knocked lightly on the door and I looked up from yet another sketch of Tatsu. They were beginning to pile up underneath my mat. The strange feelings that I had begun to develop for her were beginning to get serious and I still had no clue what they meant. Flipping the sketch over, I stood. "Come in," I said.

Tatsu stepped through the door and as soon as I saw her my day didn't feel quite so dark and dreary anymore. She didn't have her usual masks up today, though. She looked almost vulnerable when the emotion could be seen on her face, and a small, hesitant smile crept onto her face when she saw me. Her eyes were filled with mostly concealed guilt, but they also showed her happiness at seeing me. "Konnichiwa, Daimyo Naoki," she said quietly.

Why is she here?And why does she look guilty? I wondered. Something must have happened, because, in the past few months, she'd never once let anyone see what she was feeling, or cracked a smile when she thought others might see. "Tatsu-san? Is something wrong?"

She shook her head, her masks coming back up again. "Īe. I just... Wanted to talk about the disease. Ryo-kun said that you'd gotten a reply from Mitsuhide-kun. Is he going to help?"

I shook my head. "He had terms that I can't accept."

Sitting down on the cushion by the table, I let my head fall into my hands and tried to push back the overwhelming feelings of uselessness and unworthiness. How was I supposed to help Kyou defeat Oda and the rest of the clans if I wasn't even able to keep my own people from dying day after day because of a disease that didn't seem to have a cure of any sort?

"I don't know what to do, Tatsu-san! There's no cure that we can find and people keep dying... so many people are dying..." Swallowing, I looked up at her. "If I can't even protect them from a simple disease, how am I supposed to rule the clan? How am I supposed to help Kyou-kun take over Nihon and defeat Oda? What if I'm just hurting everyone by even being here?" I would have continued, but Tatsu sat next to me and drew in a breath like she wanted to say something, so I waited for her to speak.

"Naoki-kun, you are smart, brave, talented, and, above all, a great leader. I know you're going to find a way to cure this because that's who you are. You wouldn't let a problem stop you before, so don't let it stop you now."

Turning my head to look at her, I considered her words, but they didn't make me feel any better. "That's..."

Tatsu put her finger in front of my mouth. "Don't. You. Dare. I had to think of all of that on the spot, you know, and it wasn't easy. You are not going to ignore me."

For some reason, that comment stabbed right through the dark clouds surrounding my soul and made me feel a whole lot better. A laugh burst out of me and Tatsu grinned. "See?" she said. "That's much better!"

After bickering back and forth for a while with Tatsu, I finally decided that I should get back to figuring out what to do about this disease.

***

The coughing started when I woke up. Despite the fact that I knew it was the disease, I didn't want to believe it. So I ignored it and pretended that I was fine. Ryo gave me a concerned look when I started coughing in the middle of a sentence, but he must have seen something in my face because he didn't say anything about it.

By the time noon rolled around, though, I knew it wasn't going to stay hidden for long. Michi and Masaki sought me out and by the looks on their faces when they found me, I knew that they'd found out.

"You should have told us, Naoki-kun," Masaki said. His expression was angry, but I could tell he was more worried than anything.

Michi nodded. "We can't lose you, Naoki-kun. If you die this clan is doomed."

Letting out a sigh, I fought back another fit of coughing and rubbed my forehead, too tired to argue with them. "I'm sorry. I just... I can't afford to stop working right now. We're in the middle of a war and now there's all this sickness and..." cutting off, I coughed into my hand. My throat was starting to feel the consequences from all of this coughing and it hurt a lot. "How am I supposed to fix everything when it's all falling apart?"

Letting myself fall onto my bed mat, I sat against the wall of my room and watched the twins. They sat down across from me and I shook my head. "You should stay away. I don't want to give this to you too."

Michi shrugged. "If we were going to get it from you, we probably already did."

"You need to rest, Naoki-kun," Masaki said. "Maybe you'll be able to beat it, but you have to rest or you won't have even the smallest chance."

"But..." another coughing fit cut me off and Michi gave me a pointed look.

"We'll take care of everything, Naoki-kun. Right now, we're placing you under room arrest. Until you've at least slept some, maybe even until you've recovered, you can't leave."

"You can't do that," I protested weakly.

They stood and headed for the door. "We most certainly can. We're your friends. You'll forgive us when you're better," Michi said.

"Hey..."

They left, ignoring me. The door closed and they left. The silhouettes of two others stepped into place by my door and I sighed. May as well try to sleep then.

***

"It won't kill anyone, will it?" Tatsu asked.

"You're an assassin, Tatsu-san. It shouldn't matter if it will. Just make sure it gets into the major water supplies. Get the Hojo-jō water supply last," Oda said.

She bit her lip. "But won't it kill a lot of people?"

"Yes. That's exactly what it will do. And after about a month, it'll all be washed out of the water, leaving it clean for drinking once I'm Shogun. That's the point. Now are you going to do what I paid you for, or do you need convincing?"

She shook her head. "Īe, I'll do it," she said.

"It doesn't take much. Just one vial for each river. It's strong, so it'll do the job easily enough."

"Hai, Daimyo Oda."

He smiled. "Good."

***

I woke up covered in sweat and feeling no better than I had when I fell asleep. A tray of food sat on my table, so I made myself get up and eat it. Picking up the cup of water to wash the food down, I almost downed it, but at the last minute, I remembered the strange dream I had.

Looking at the water, I finally finished the idea that had been forming in my head before. If the water supply is poisoned, that would explain how the sickness spread so quickly.

That's when I noticed that the water wasn't as clear as it usually was. It was cloudier. Since I was already sick, I figured it couldn't hurt to try it. Taking a sip, I tried to taste the poison, but it tasted the same as it always did, which gave me no proof at all.

Tatsu wasn't here when this started. She was gone and all of the reports started just before she got back, my mind whispered. Shaking my head, I set the water down.

Tatsu couldn't be involved. The Iga clan had sent her to help me, she'd said so herself. They never actually told you themselves. Anyone can lie about something like that. That was true, but she'd helped me defeat other clans. That would further Oda's plans too. None of them were allied with Oda. The more clans are defeated by us, the fewer Oda has to fight. Okay, but she'd ever poison an entire clan. She might be an assassin for hire, but she wasn't a monster. Which you know because you've spent years around her and know her so well, right? With the right motivation, anyone can do things that they would never do in normal circumstances. But not Tatsu... right?

Pushing the empty food tray out of the way, I let my head fall onto the table and tried to make sense of the conclusions that I was jumping to. "It's the dream, that's all. It's just making me suspicious. This is just a normal disease, or else the healers would have recognized the symptoms from the poison used," I muttered.

"Poison?" Michi asked from the doorway. "What are you talking about now, Naoki-kun?"

Lifting my head off of the table, I looked at him and sighed. "I don't even know. It must be the sickness talking or something."

"Naoki-kun, you have never lost your good judgment or your instincts because of sickness. Admittedly, the cures for that do make you crazy sometimes, but I've never once seen you make the wrong decision because you were sick and weren't thinking right."

"No, I know I'm wrong about this," I said. "It's not important anyway."

Michi joined me at the table and met my gaze, his face clearly showing that he didn't believe me. "Spill it, Naoki-kun. If we're going to find the cure for this, you need to tell me what you're thinking."

"Fine. I think Tatsu poisoned our water supply."