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Chapter Text

A boy was quietly playing with a ball when accidentaly it got into a gap between the wall and some boxes.

While he was trying to retrieve it a hand suddenly came out of a crevice, then bunch of Nanashi got out from there.

Crevices are the space between this world and the next, the entrance and exit for monsters: the Gedoushuu from the Sanzu River.

The boy crawled back away from the gap while the Nanashi moved closet to the boy until a small red flying lion-like origami flew at them and knocked them back beofre shifting back to its original form, then a man ran over to the boy and pulled him up motioning him to run away.

Then two kuroko walked up and then they both threw a smoke bomb at the monsters.

A fog of smoke filled the area before it revealed a red samurai.

The man who helped the boy walked up to stand next to the samurai and said: "Gedoushuu-domo, listen carefully. Standing before you is the descendant of the samurai who obliterated yourr kind 300 years ago. The 18th head of the Shiba Clan...Shinken Red, Shiba Kaoru-hime!...Now, will you..." 

The samurai interrupted "Jii...Too long."

Jii looked at her a little taken aback "But before fighting, you must..."

She didn't listen and then unsheathed her sword and charged forward at the monsers, slicing each of them unil there were no Nanashi left.

Then she unhenshined as she walked towards Hii and the kuroko.

"Hime! Well done. Splendid! It was really worth it, for I, Jii, raise you with all my devotion" The man said proudly while Kaoru accepted the tea the kuroko was offering her, then his demanor changed and said "But, this means their revival is probably near"

Kaoru made a face but quickly hid her discomfort while Jii continued "We should make the first move and assemble the Shinkengers"

Then the samurai turned her back and accepted the cloth that the other kuroko was offering her while saying "Enough, we have talked enough about it"

"But, princess!" Jii said "You shouldn't understimate the Gedoushuu! Someday you will not be able to handle them alone and that's why those four were raised to be samurai, they are waiting for the day they are called and can fight as your loyal retainers"

"I'm fine by myself" She said with a serious tone and returned the cloth to the kuroko " Loyalty and retainers... this is real life, not a period drama"

"But...princess!"

"I can do this alone" 

"The Gedoushuu are getting stronger!" He said worriedly "You are good at fighting but you'll soon need their help, now they know about you...and your training is not finished"

"And whose fault is that?" She asked raising an eyebrow as if challenging him to respond, then she regained her cool and said "I'm going home"

Jii wanted to tell her that she should reconsider but decided against it, he sighed.

Ikenami Ryuunosuke was rehearsing his kabuki act at his family's theater when his father approached him with a resignated expression.

"I hope you are practicing hard...beacuse it may be your last performance"

The young man was surprised and just managed to say "Eh?"

His father showed the Ryuu Origami that had been passed down by each generation of the Ikenami family and Ryuunosuke grabbed it looking at it with amazement.

"Our family had served the Shiba clan for generations" He made a pause "When the time comes, no matter when" He made another pause before saying with solemnity "You have to go and become a katana for your lord"

"I understand" Ryuunosuke said with a faint smile.

"All your unkown comrades probaly feel the same way and have been taught the path of the samurai"

"Mako-sensei, come play with us!" A little boy said grabbing Shiraishi Mako's hand while she was playing with him and his classmates.

"Everyone, let's play together" She said amused while she tried to avoid making her Kame Origami fall.

She had been keeping the Origami since her grandmother gave it to her when she became 21 and left her family's ancestral home as her grandmother considered that her training was finished.

The young woman loved working at that kindergarten and hoped she could enjoy it a little bit more before being called to resume the fight her family had against the Gedoushuu.

Tani Chiaki was playing Tekken 5 at the arcade with his friends as he always did after school, that day was special beacuse he was finally finishing his last term at Moboroshi High and would soon graduate.

He didn't know yet what he wanted to do after that.

"You're awesome" One of his friends said after he had won his 10th round on the game.

"Right?" He said without looking away from the screen "This is my special training"

His training as a samurai was limited at what he had learnt when he was a child, but he still kept Kuma Origami by his side.

Hanaori Kotoha was at her family's bamboo store playing her flute after training.

She was wondering about how her sister was at the hospital, about when she would be called to seve the Shiba clan and if she was ready for it.

Saru Origami was firmly put on a necklace she always had on.

Shiba Kaoru was back at the Shiba Manor's yard playing with Shishi Origami when Jii approached her with a bow and some arrows ready.

She mentally prepared herself for what he was going to say.

"Hime" He started to say "It's the Gedoushuu...but this time it's not only the Nanashi, Ayakashi are now active" He made a pause to let her assimilate the news before adding "Please, let us summon the samurai-tachi, we cannot wait more"

The girl stood up and looked at him with decision before saying "I said that I'm fine by myself, I have been managing well this last year, haven't I?"

"This is no time for being stubborn" He said getting the arrow and bow ready to shot the first one.

"Stop it"

"You should know how powerful Doukoku is!"

She breathed deep and said "That's the reason...why I'm against it, I cannot let them risk their lives, they may not know how dangerous this fight can be?"

"Have you forgotten your mother's words?"

She closed her as she remembered the night her mother's died, that had not been too long ago.

"From now on you are...Shinken Red!" She had given her the Shishi Origimi, she had been keeping it since the previous Shinken Red had died, as she put it on her hands her mother added "Don't run away, no matter what"

That seemed to start to convince her and Jii kept on "Their fate was born to be samurai, they surely have to come to terms with this and...as painful as it is, this is a burden they must bear" He made a pause and added "Just like you"

This time he didn't wait for her response as he shot to the sky the first arrow with the kanji "Gather".

Kaoru just closed her eyes and sighed while she clutched Shishi Origami on her hand.

Then, Jii showed her a cage that had four other Shodophones while he said "The samurai-tachi will surely come"

She took them with resignation and put them oon a bag before going to meet her new team, she wrote the kanji for horse with her Shodophone while she heard "The Princess is going to battle"

Ryuunosuke arrived to the place they were summoned to, it was fairly close to the battle and he quickly approached the black kago that was being landed by a pair of kuroko.

"Head of the Shiba clan!," He got down on his knees and lowered his head" I have come from the Ikenami clan. My name is Ryuunosuke..."

Mako, who had been the one on the palanquin, was surprised to she the man in a traditional attire and make-up and started to say "Wait!I-"

"I had no idea you were a lady, my lord"

"What I was saying, you are wrong"

Then Kotoha arrived and said "Tono-sama" as she bowed to Ryuunosuke, who in turn was cleaning the make-up with a tissue.

"No, I'm not-"

"Are you my comrades?" The three of them heard and turned to see Chiaki who was making a face while saying "You are...kinda amazing"

Ryuunosuke and Kotoha bowed to him which made him wince before he said "What the hell?"

Then Mako heard the sound of horse shoes approaching and looked to the side and saw a girl on a black horse, she thought "So this Ryuunosuke-guy was right, the Shiba clan Lord is a Lady"

"Are you the samurai?" Kaoru asked while showing them the Shishi Origami as proof that she was the Shiba Clan head.

"You are...our lord" Ryuunosuke said and then coughed a little as he corrected himself as he kneeled in front of her and bowed "Our lady"

"Pardon us" Kotoha said as she bowed too.

Chiaki just looked at her with curiosity as he had been expecting someone older and this wo-no...girl looked around his age, just like the yellow-girl.

Kaoru got off the horse with ease and started to say "Let me say this" She made a pause "If you go ahead, you will not be able to turn back. Defeat the Gedoushuu...or die"  The samurai didn't wait for their response and showed them her Shodophone "I'll give you this device, if you stay and fight, that's it.Don't choose this because of things like "retainers" and "loyalty" She then added with an even more serious tone "Be resolute on your decision"

She knew that they would have been raised as retainers, that was what Jii had said, and that they had been waiting for this day but she wouldn't force them to follow her.

There was a silence that cut deep and she almost turned her back to get back onto the horse. They were taking their time to take their decision on whether ot no they were prepared to fight.

The first one to speak was Kotoha who vowed once more and said "I'll try my best, please allow me to fight with you"

The kabuki actor tightened his grip on his costume and then let go, then said with resolution "My lady. I would not have come if I were not willing..." He made a pause "Allow us to fight alongside you!"

"Well..." Mako considered it "I've been ready for this ecer since I was little"

Chiaki scratched the side of his face and walked in front of them and looked at Kaoru for a moment before saying annoyed "You guys are making this too much of a deal of this, let's just do this already, we just gotta take care of bussines,right? " Then smirked a little bit and added "My lady?"

Kaoru just walked back to the horse to get the other four Shodophones and tossed them at the other samurai, she then just said "Let's do this"

Right after some kuroko holding a long white banner with the Shiba clan crest on it jogged around the group while other kurokos started to assist the Samurai change into their attire.

The army of Nanashi and Kagekamuro, the Ayakashi, that was leading them,  were going around attacking and killing people, when the Ayakashi was about to strike a civilian with its sword a faint sound of drums were heard and so it looked up at the stars and saw on the top of it some kuroko holding banners of the Shiba clan, then they moved a large banner away to reveal the samurai standing behind it.

"Gedoushuu, that's far enough"

"The crest!.Then you are..."

"Exactly" Kaoru took out her Shodophone and then said "Ippitsu Soujo!" then wrote the kanji for "Fire"

Then the other four didi the same writing the kanji of their element: "Water", "Heaven", "Wood" and "Earth".

Each of the five samurai transformed into their Shinkenger form and color. 

"Shiken Red, Shiba Kaoru"

"The same in Blue, Ikenami Ryuunosuke"

"The same in Pink, Shiraishi Mako"

"The same in Green, Tani Chiaki"

"The same in Yellow, Hanaori Kotoha"

Shinken Red stood with her blade in front while the other kneeled on one knee with their blades held behind them.

"The Samurai Sentai authorized by Providence!"

"Shinkenger!"

"Mairu!"

The army of Nanashi charged forwoard as the Shinkengers did the same, and so the fight started. 

The samurai fared well on battle, ones more than others, but then some Nanashi started to shot arrows at Shiken Red, who stopped them with her ShinkenMaru, while Shinken Blue and Shinken Yellow jumped in front of the Nanashi archers and sliced them before running to stand in front of Shinken Red.

Then Shinken Green and Shinken Pink joined them.

"Man, look at this guys!" the Green samurai said.

"My lady" the Blue samurai looked back at Shinken Red and held out his arm in front of her "Stay back"

Shinken Red moved his arm out of her way and spun the disc attached to her katana as it changed into a huge blade "Rekka Daizantou!" then took out the shishi disc and attached it to the blade, she just turned and said "Protect yourselves"

The other Shinkenger quickly ducked as ther leader swung her blade and sent a wave of fire at the Nanashi and then charged forward.

"We should do the same, we shall assist!" Shinken Blue said.

"Amazing!" Shinken Yellow muttered.

Then they all used their own signature weapons and after there were no Nanashi left to fight, they noticed that their leader was fighting Kagekamuro and destroyed it.

They were al amazed by it on different degrees but Shinken Green then said "I was pretty amazing too, better than I thought I would be"

"Well, we managed to pull it off but..." Shinken Pink started to say.

"Keep your guard up" Shinken Red said walking towards them while Shinken Blu bowed, then she added looking up "Ayakashi have to lives, there comes the second"

"Second life?" Shinken Green walked up to stand by her side and was about to ask what she meant until he looked up "How is this possible?"

"I have heard of this"

"You have neglected your studies!" Shinken Blue got Ryu Origami out and showed it to them "Origami. It's he embodiment of each of our powers, by combiningn them..."

"Too long" Shinken Red scolded him and took out her Shodophone and Shishi Origami, then wrote the kanji for "Giant" over it which made it grow.

"My apologies-"

"Let's get done with this"

Then the other did the same with their own origami.

Kagekumaro started to shot beams at them Shishi, Saru and Ryu Origami charged forward first with Kame doing it later  but gettting caught by the Ayakashi's second mouth.

"Hey!, let go!"

Then Kuma Origamim started to scratch the Ayakachi until it let go of Kame Origami, both then rolled away before Ryu Origami shot a water blast which made Kagekumaro get distracted before Shishi Origami flew at the Ayakashi while it got into flames and then destroyed.

When they got back into the ground the group of samurai gathered at a bridge near the place they battled the Gedoushuu, they were happy and relieved by their first victory.

"We did it" Kotoha said smimling while looking at her origami "Thank godness"

"Piece of cake, we-" Chiaki said while playing with Kuma Origami.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that" Kaoru interrumpted him in a serious tone "You have to learn to be more aware of your sorroundings, this time you got lucky" Then she crossed her arms and was about to say something else when Jii ran towards her, bowed and then said "Hime-sama! Such and splendid battle!"

Mako watched the scene curiosly while Chiaki asked "Who's the old guy?"

"I'm going home" Kaoru said walking away while ignoring Jii compliments.

"Please wait!" Jii said trying to catch up.

Kaoru turned her back and said to the samurai "What are you waiting for?, come on, the rest of you"

Ryuunosuke and Kotoha were the first ones to start to follow her, the yellow samurai said "My lady, let me accompany you!"

Chiaki and Mako shared a look before deciding to follow them

The kuroko accompained Mako and Chiaki to their houses to gather their things since they had gone to the gathering point without their stuff. Ryuunosuke's father had sent the things he considered necessary to the Shiba Manor while Kotoha said that everything that she needed was on the bag she took with her from Kyoto.

While the Blue and Yellow samurai got settled on their new bedrooms, Jii and Kaoru were  drinking tea and talking at a reunion room in another wing of the Shiba Manor.

"Hime-sama" Jii said in a happy and proud tone "Great first battle!, see?, I told you that it would be easier to defeat the Gedoushuu with the assistance of your retainers"

Kaoru crossed her arms and closed her eyes, she seemed to consider it and then said "Ikenami and Shiraishi are good, Tani is reckless and Hanaori is too young for this...you told me that Shinken Yellow was older"

Jii nodded and then said "Hanaori Mitsuba is too sick to take the role..."

"Understood" She interrupted her.

"And she is only one year younger than you, hime-sama"

"That's different"

Jii just nodded and kept silent before drinking another sip of his tea, he then bowed and was about to stood up before he said "You should try to get to know your retainers..."

"No"

"It would make easier the team work..."

"That would held me back"

"Please, hime-sama"

She looked away and bit her lip, then said "I'll...consider it"

Jii smiled.

Then a kuroko entered the room and signaled them that the Green and Pink had arrived so they both went to receive them.

"Good night" Mako greeted them and gave Kaoru a polite bow.

Chiaki just looked at her and nodded his head as a way of greeting.

Kaoru knew that he was going to be trouble but she liked Mako well enough, at the moment.

Meanwhile Jii just said "Get settled in your rooms, dinner will soon be ready"

Chapter Text

A few days had passed since they first fought Kagekumaro and no Ayakashi had attacked yet, just a few Nanashi here and there. Kaoru was starting to question if Jii had been right about calling the retainers but according to her caretaker things were the most tranquil when they were going to take a turn for the worse.

So, Kaoru decided to train with her retainers, they had to be on the same level as her.

As she had said the best among them was Ryuunosuke, with Mako following a close second and Kotoha was not half bad but Kaoru had a few qualms about her.

She was too young and too… naïve for the lack of a better word, it didn’t matter that she was just a year younger than her, it felt as if she was a child, the yellow samurai had that kind of aura that irradiated happiness and light.

Kaoru is almost tempted to dismiss her but she had to admit that the team needed her.

Chiaki was another matter, completely another matter.

Jii was watching them as they practiced their Mojikara over paper blocs, each of them was writing kanji correspondent to their element.

“You are doing pretty well” The old man said with a proud smile as he saw Ryuunosuke’s and Kotoha’s calligraphy, then he looked at Mako’s and Kaoru’s and smiled again.

“I’m not sure about that” Kaoru muttered but it was loud enough for Jii to hear and so the man turned to Chiaki who was having a hard time writing the kanji for “Grass”, even though Kaoru had to admit that it was readable he got the stroke order totally wrong.

She resisted the urge to wince when Jii hit the Green samurai on the back of his head.

“The stoke order is wrong”

“Hey! That hurts!” Chiaki turned to face Jii while complaining “There was no need to do that!”

“Silence!” The man walked a few steps away and added “If you cannot properly write your words, you will be no use to the princess”

“Yes, yes” Chiaki responded while rolling his eyes, then he bent forward a bit to pretend to continue practicing his Mojikara but instead took out Kuma Origami and tapped it to make it shift into a bear.

Kaoru noticed it and coughed a little bit to catch his attention, he was trouble but she didn’t want to hear Jii lecturing even if he wasn’t lecturing her. The boy rolled his eyes and ignored her and made Kuma bit Jii’s leg.

She grimaced and tapped Shishi Origami to make it turn into its lion form and knocked away Kuma.

“Chiaki! You shouldn’t use the Origami like that!” Ryuunosuke chastised him “Besides we are in front of our princess”

“Can you stop with the “princess” and “lady” stuff?”

“What?”

“I didn’t come here to be part of some period drama” The Green samurai saw Kuma fly towards him and caught it with his hand, then he looked at Kaoru who had also caught her origami in her hand and said “I’m not your retainer”

The girl sighed and said trying to keep her cool “Look, if you are not going to be serious about being Shinken Green, pack up and go” She heard Kotoha gasp and knew that she had failed a keeping her temper down “I don’t care about you thinking about me as “Hime-sama”, but as I said…we don’t have used for usele-“

That seemed to rile up Chiaki, who got closer to the Red samurai and interrupted her “What? Are you going to fire me or-?”

“Yes”

“You don’t get to decided that yourself”

Both samurai locked their eyes while the other Shinkengers stood by and saw the exchange, Mako particularly was interested to see how it developed but before she could make a comment Jii hit Chiaki in the head again while giving Kaoru a disapproving look.

Kaoru just turned her back and walked into the Shiba Manor, she wasn’t going to be lectured by her caretaker in front of the other Shinkengers.

“Hime-sama”

Kaoru heard Jii said while she was sitting in the garden, she was reading a book as a way to relax and forget a about the whole debacle with Chiaki. She just nodded as a way of acknowledgment and waited for the lecture.

“Hime-sama, you lost your temper today”

“Chiaki will just hold us back, his lack of training bothers me” She closed her book knowing that she would have to pay attention to what he was going to say.

“While I agree that he is lacking…in a few fields” Jii said “There is always room for improvement, your fellow samurai…have not been trained with the same rigidness as you…” He made a pause “Even if you haven’t finished your training and…”

She huffed and closed her book as a way to end the conversation.

Kaoru knew that she was acting childish and that she had let her emotions show in front of her retainers but she wasn’t going to hear about it today.

“Until you are ready to continue your “special training”, you should try to get to know your retainers, even if you don’t want to make friends, it won’t hurt” He then added “Take it as a way to build trust between…”

“I’ll consider it” She interrupted him, they already had this conversation.

“You said that the other day, hime-sama”

The girl looked at the few flowers that were in the garden and said “We should get more tsubaki, tell the kuroko to plant some when the weather improves” Then she stood up and looked at the cherry trees and added “Get some shiragiku too”

Jii just nodded and went back to the manor after a bow.

She had lost interest on her book so she closed it and sighed, she was going to ask the chef kuroko to prepare some senbei when she saw Kotoha walking towards the exit while carrying a training sword and a bamboo flute.

Curiosity got the best of her and so she followed the Yellow samurai till she stopped at a park near a bridge that was about twenty minutes walking from the manor.

At first Kaoru had wanted to return to the manor, it was too cold and she had not taken a warmer jacket with her but at east she was using a scarf and boots, she considered her options. She was curious about the way her retainers trained by themselves, so she stood at a reasonable distance and after a few minutes of watching the Hanaori girl train she walked over to her and said “It would be good for you to train with someone else”

That seemed to startle the other girl who dropped the training sword over her feet and said “Hime.sama!”

“Sorry for startling you” Kaoru said walking towards her and looked at the bamboo flute Kotoha had on her pocket.

Kotoha noticed that and got flustered, then she picked up the training sword and said “Umm…”

“I can train with you” Kaoru offered and thought “Too much for being nice”

“I wouldn’t want to bother you, hime”

“It wouldn’t be a bother” She responded while taking out her Shodophone to write a kanji to conjure a training sword “It’s have been while since I had a training partner”

Meanwhile at the bridge near the park where Kotoha and Kaoru were training, Ryuunosuke and Chiaki were about to have a heated discussion. They had been helping Mako search for Kotoha, they didn’t know that Kaoru was also missing since they assumed she was in her room, and after a while he decided to buy an oden and sit to eat while he said “Anyway, our “Hime-sama” is far too strict”

That riled Ryuunosuke up and he reprimanded the younger samurai “You are really stubborn. Don’t say bad things about our princess”

Chiaki took a bite of his oden “You are fawning to much over her even though she barely pays any mind about us unless we are practicing Mojikara or having dinner”

“It is not fawning!” Ryuunosuke stood in front of Chiaki and looked down at him “As a retainer, this is the customary etiquette required” He looked at Mako and then again at Chiaki “That’s the way I was raised! Wasn’t it the same with you guys?”

“Not really”

“Then your parents were pretty irresponsible”

“True” Chiaki said sighing and walked away, then he turned back and started walking up to the Blue samurai “But it still pisses me off!”

Mako had enough by then and stood up in between Ryuunosuke and Chiaki trying to keep them apart “This is no time for a fight”

“Whose side are you on? “Hime-sama’s?” Chiaki asked in a mocking an annoyed tone.

“I abandoned my dreams to come here…” Mako started to say and thought about how to say what she thought about the situation “If she is an irresponsible leader, I’m not goignt to trust my life to her. That’s all”

“The princess is not irresponsible-“

“I haven’t made up my mind…ye” Mako looked at him and asked “Ryuunosuke, didn’t you abandon kabuki? Don’t you feel the same way?”

“No” He walked past Mako and stood a couple feet away from the group, even if he said that he didn’t feel the same way, her words hit a sore spot for him. Then he said “For samurai, once they decided on a lord, then that’s their lord…or lady”

“Geez” Chiaki was rubbing the back of his head “I just can’t with this “lord” and “princess” stuff!”

“As a retainer, you…”

Both samurai were rushing up to each other till Mako stood in between, then she saw Kotoha training nearby. She started walking over to Kotoha and stopped on her tracks when she saw that Kaoru was with her too.

That was a surprise.

She resumed her walk while Ryuunosuke and Chiaki followed her.

“Kotoha…” She said in a relieved tone and then she acknowledged Kaoru’s presence by bowing her head, she hadn’t made up her mind about how to address her and the girl didn’t seem to mind despite whatever Ryuunosuke said about manners. Then she asked “What are you doing here? Why are you training without us?”

“Did “hime-sama” made you come here to practice?” Chiaki asked while standing next to Kaoru and having a bite of his oden.

Kaoru closed her eyes and was about to say something but refrained to do so, she didn’t need to antagonize the Green samurai twice in a day.

Still, she wanted to have a fan with her to hit him on the head.

“Amazing!” Ryuunosuke went up to Kaoru and said “Fantastic work, hime-sama, I’m glad to have such a dedicated leader”

Kaoru got uncomfortable and nodded but the Blue samurai didn’t notice it and then went to Kotoha and held his hands over the Yellow samurai’s while saying “And you Kotoha…what a splendid dedication!”

“Oh no…” Kotoha got flustered again and pulled her hands away and backed up a bit, then she looked at Kaoru while smiling a little “I just want to make sure I can help out our princess, that’s what being a Shinkenger means, that’s what my onne-chan taught me”

“Sister?”

“I’m replacing my sister as Shinkenger” The Yellow samurai said while taking out her flute “She got sick…”

“Seriously? Your luck is pretty bad” Chiaki said as he walked up to Kotoha.

“No, I am happy” She said dismissing his statement and surprising everyone “My grades are pretty bad and I can’t make nice-looking bamboo stuff like the rest of my family…” She looked away “The flue and the sword are the only things I’m good at. Being a Shinkenger is the only things I can do. I just wanna do my best”

They all started to feel sorry for Kotoha and Ryuunosuke was trying to hold back tears, then he walked over to Chiaki and placed his hands on his shoulders while saying “Did you hear that? Such purity! She is a true samurai’s child”

“Idiot!” The Green samurai pushed his teammate away and looked back at Kotoha “She has been brainwashed!” He held out his last oden and offered it to her “Here, for you”

“Eh?”

Mako walked up to Kotoha and hugged her while Kaoru looked away uncomfortably catching the attention of Chiaki, meanwhile Ryuunosuke let a few tears drop.

“We should head back” Kaoru said and started walking while Ryuunosuke followed her.

The samurai returned to the Shiba household right when the sensors detected Gedoushuu activity at Ugetsu-cho so they went to the location and when they arrived they saw a lot of Nanashi chasing around citizens.

The Ayakashi, Ootsumuji, ordered the Nanashi as soon the samurai transformed into their Shinkenger form, they all started to fight in different zones of the battlefield and started using their signature weapons.

At some point, Shinken Red started fighting Ootsumuji one-on-one while using her Rekka Daizantou who in turn was trying to slash her with its sword. Shinken Yellow used her Land Slicer to slash the Nanashi but it almost struck Shinken Red and so the Ayakashi used the distraction to hit the Red samurai and slammed her against a building.

“Hime-sama” Shinken Yellow ran over to Shinken Red and knelt down beside her.

“This is it” The Ayakashi prepared to give a final blow while Shinken Yellow got in front of Shinken Red and the other Shikengers ran over to them, they all were hit by the attack reverting to their civilian forms “What a bunch of weaklings”

Kaoru back on her civilian form tried to stand up a few times before she finally could and she held onto her arm before saying “You can stand up, right?” She leaned against the destroyed building and then added while she picked up her Shinkenmaru “If you can, then get up…if don’t…don’t get on the way”

She didn’t wait to see who stood up, meanwhile Mako was the first one to get up and asked “Are you okay, guys?”

“What a jerk” Chiaki muttered as he got up but she had heard it and responded “If you are going to get beaten that easily, you are not needed!”

“Hime-sama” Kotoha said in a sad tone while she grasped a rock.

“Princess, we are trying our best!” Ryuunosuke said “Please, consider…”

Kaoru didn’t turn her back and coolly said “Trying you best won’t save lives, not even yours!” Then she wrote the kanji for the transformation

Seeing that Kotoha wasn’t standing up Mako turned to her and gave her a concerned look, she knew that the girl had taken the worst of the hit and so she started to say “She didn’t need to say it that way…Kotoha, wait here-”

“No, she is right…” The girl started to say as they saw Shinken Red fighting Ootsumuji again while saving a little girl and carrying the girl back to her mother “What’s the point if we can’t protect anyone”

At seeing that, Chiaki said “She is strong…I can give her that”

“Perhaps from her position a samurai has no need for kindness” Ryuunosuke reflected.

“All that matters is to defect the Gedoushuu and protect everyone” Mako said.

They all took out their Shodophones and transformed into their Shinkenger forms, they all deflected the Ayakashi’s attack and then Shinken Red said while spinning the disc of her katana “Let’s attack together”

The Shinkengers charged forwards as they each sliced the Ayakashi with their combined attack and destroyed it. Still, the Ayakashi had its second life as it grew into a giant version of itself.

The samurai took out their Origami and used their Mojikara to make them grow, then they charged towards the Ootsumuji but the Ayakashi was stronger.

“The Origami won’t be enough. We need…” Shinken Red started to say.

“Samurai Gattai, I heard about this!” Shinken Blue said excitedly “All of you, follow my lead!”

The other samurai agreed but when they tried to form the mecha it ended up looking like an oden and Shishi origami was left out of the combination.

“Is this how its supposed to look?” Shinken Pink asked.

“Ryuunosuke…” Shinken Red said in a frustrated tone “What is that supposed to be?”

“Is there something wrong?” Shinken Blue asked confusedly.

“What about me?!”

“What are you doing, man?!” Shinken Green complained “Why am I on the bottom?”

“Is this a joke?” The Ayakashi started walking over to the origami oden to attack “I have played this game before”

Shinken Red sighed and said resignately “Morons, I’ll handle it…” then she wrote the kanji for “Combine” “Samurai Gattai”

And so the origami shifted into different forms before combining into the Shinken-Oh. When they were all in the gattai, Shinken Red turned to Shinken Blue and said “Don’t try to do it again”

“My apologies” He said ashamedly.

“I liked the one from before” Shinken Yellow commented.

“And now I’m hungry…” Shinken Green complained remembering that he hadn’t finished his oden.

“Focus” Shinken Red said in a serious tone.

Then the Shinken-Oh swung its Daishinken down at Ootsumuji, who in turn summoned Nanashi that surrounded the mecha and used chains to invobilize them. Luckily for the Shinkengers, Shishi origami let out a large flame that took out most of the surrounding Nanashi and then Shinken-Oh pulled the chains held by the leftover Nanashi.

The Shinkenger unsheathed their blades and held it in front of them was the Shinken-Oh pointed its Daishinken at the Ayakashi.

“Daishinken!Samurai Giri!”

After that they spun their Shinkenmaru while the mecha swung its blade over Ootsumuji defeating it.

“This brings this act to a close”

The samurai stood near a large fountain as they were preparing to head back to the Shiba Manor, then suddenly Ryuunosuke knelt down in front of Kaoru making her back up a bit.

“Hime-sama! I was overcome with emotion in a lapse of impetuousness” The Blue samurai said while bowing “Please accept my sincerest apologies”

“Eh?” Kaoru managed to say and then, after some thought she said “There is no need for that”

“Now I truly understand what it means to be a samurai” He said with energy “Isn’t that right, Chiaki?”

The Green samurai crossed his arms and said while looking defiantly at Kaoru “Yeah, but I still don’t buy this period drama stuff”

“Hey! Listen, as a retainer…”

“That works for me” Kaoru simply said surprising the other Shinkenger and stopped Ryuunosuke who was about to start an argument with Chiaki.

Chiaki blinked not knowing what to say about that and just nodded uncomfortably. Then Kotoha walked towards Kaoru and bowed while saying “Hime-sama, um, I’m sorry” Then added with conviction “I’ll try harder next time”

“You did well” She said quietly and looked away, then added “All of you”

That made Mako smile with approval, that reminded Kaoru of her mother and made her heart flip a little.

“Such kindness!” Ryuunosuke cried out and the put his hand over his mouth to mute a sob, then added “And in comparision, I…” He fell down on his knees once more and Kaoru almost fell back but Chiaki grabbed her by the arm “I made such a foolish mistake, in the heat of battle! How pathetic! Princess, to show my repentance…” He started to take out his jacket.

“There is no need for that!” Kaoru quickly said raising her hands but to no vail as Ryuunosuke went to the underneath the waterfall of the fountain.

“How cringy” Chiaki muttered with a bit of disdain while Ryuunosuke cried out “Hime-sama, I’m sorry”

“I hope this doesn’t become a habit” Kaoru muttered while putting her hands on her pockets and looking away.

 “Ryuunosuke might just be the most obnoxious of us” Mako commented.

“What should we do?” Kotoha asked Kaoru, she was holding the man’s clothes.

Kaoru considered going back home as she was tired, and she was sure the rest were as well tired, but she said “Let’s wait for a bit, let’s hope he doesn’t get a cold though”

Chapter Text

A samurai's life is one of discipline, property, and challenge.

Samurai must train constantly in order to hone their skills

It was early in the morning when the Shinkengers, sans Chiaki, were training at the training yard. Mako and Ryuunosuke were training with dummy's while Kaoru and Kotoha were sparring with each other.

Her favorite training partners were Kotoha and Ryuunosuke, she didn't like to train with Mako since she didn't like the way the older woman tried to analyze her...and well, Chiaki wasn't exactly the best at swordsmanship so training with him was a waste of time...for her, Kotoha was his training partner if Kaoru was training with Ryuunosuke.

Jii was observing them while being sat on the porch as he wanted to be sure about their abilities before giving them more advanced training and he had to admit that it was true that having the retainers in the mansion was kind of holding the princess back in some ways but giving her a little more time to develop her skills as a leader.

He remembered how hard was it to Lord Masataka to learn to lead his retainers into battle...but he had no say about that since he was not the Shiba caretaker at the time.

The old man was looking at them with pride as they had been getting better during the few weeks they had stayed at the mansion, then he noticed that one of the retainers was missing.

"Where is Chiaki?" Jii asked one of the kuroko who was preparing the tea.

The kuroko explained that the Green samurai overslept again and was soon to be taken to the training yard.

The man sighed, he didn't remember Tani Kurando being like that during his tenure as Shinken Green but then again, Chiaki's father was not as young as his son was at the moment.

He then looked at the other retainers and felt a little glimmer of hope.

But it was shattered when the Green samurai was carried by four kuroko while still sleeping and left on the ground while yawning.

"Idiot" Kaoru muttered while giving Chiaki a quick glance, the boy just rolled his eyes and yawned again while he picked up a training sword and walked towards a training dummy.

"Chiaki..." Ryuunosuke started to say in a scolding tone "You can't be this irresponsible! A samurai must be always ready for battle!"

Jii chuckled lightly and walked into the training yard and said "Ryuunosuke...you shouldn't talk" Then motioned a kuroko to give the Blue samurai a pair of hakama since the young man was using his pajama pants.

"I'm so sorry!" The man said while blushing and started changing his clothes in front of all of them which made the other cringe.

"Kotoha..." Jii said "Go train with the others, Chiaki you'll train with hime-sama"

"Eh?" Chiaki and Kaoru said at the same time.

"Okay" Kotoha simply said and went with Ryuunosuke who had finally changed his pants and Mako who was watching with a curious look.

"It's not fair" Chiaki mumbled "I just got up..."

Kaoru just resigned with a huff and told him "Let's just to this"

They both got into defensive position and suddenly Chiaki lunged forward but Kaoru quickly blocked the hit, then she hit him on the leg and then another hit on the back making him fall.

"That hurts!" He protested.

"You didn't even try to block" She simply said and was about to ask Ryuunosuke to train with her but Chiaki stood up and said "Let's do this"

Both samurai got again into position, this time Chiaki waited a little longer to attack but when he lunged forward he left his left side unprotected and so Kaoru hit him there.

"It's not fair" He complained and rubbed his side.

"Battle isn't fair" Kaoru said while a kuroko offered her a tea, which she received and then she hit Chiaki once more.

"Are you going to keep hitting me?"

"Are you going to keep not dodging the hits?"

"It's imposible"

Kaoru sighed and suddenly turned to Kotoha, who was focused on the dummy, and tried to hit her with the sword but the Yellow samurai blocked it.

"How?"

"Your teammates take their training seriously" Jii said hitting him with a some papers and stood by the young samurai side while saying in a serious tone "Chiaki...we can't have you slacking in your training..."

"I try my best!" Chiaki protested and gave him a dirty look.

"But you are still behind in training" He said "You'll writte 500 kanji by this afternoon"

"That's too much!" Chiaki complaines ans then he looked at his teammates whilr saying "Why aren't they doing the same?"

"They already know their characters" Jii said "Though Hime-sama has neglected her calligraphy as of late"

Kaoru snapped her head up and muttered "What?"

Jii gave her a look and she realized what he really meant, then the black haired girl nodded and sighed.

"Kotoha, Ryuunosuke and Mako can practice their mojikara after lunch"

It was going to be a long afternoon.

*****Later, at the main room*****

Jii had left some paper and a guide book, Chiaki had been scratching his head for the last hour while Kaoru had been focusedon writting her own characters.

Sometimes she wondered why bothered on giving her this menial training, she had already learnt this.

Then she saw a few new ones after she had written around 150.

That made sense, she guessed as some were ones that they had agreed she wouldn't be using...yet

She had been so focused on writting correctly the new ones that she didn't notice that the Green samurai had left the room.

"Where is he?" She asked to a kuroko that was passing by. The kuroko simply informed her that Chiaki had left a few moments ago.

That meant that he left long ago.

She stood up and walked over to see if he had at least written some characters so that Jii didn't flip out. He had only written some chracters that she had some trouble reading and then she read on the second page "500 characters"

"Idiot" She muttered and decided to go find him so her caretaker didn't notice the Green samurai was missing but then she heard Jii crying out "Chiaki!"

Too late for that then.

Plan B: All of them had to go find him and drag him back to finish the 500 characters.

*****At the arcade*****

Chiaki decided he needed a break when he noticed that Jii wasn't observing him and that the others were so focused on their own activities. It wasn't like the princess, Jii and Ryuunosuke would go after him.

Right?, Mako and Kotoha didn't seem the type to snitch and they probably would know that he wouls eventually go back to the Shiba Manor.

He just needed a break from all that period drama that his life had become.

Luckily, he knew where to go.

The arcades.

He loved that place and his friends Kouji and Masato were there, they kew how to make someone feel home.

They had been happy to see him, Masato mentioned that they had been worried about him since he disappeared just before graduation and that his fatherhad said something about him staying at some special place.

Chiaki just thought "Thanks dad for making it even weirder"

"After all the studying we did for the university entrance exam you dropped out" Kouji said while clutching his soda.

"We were supposed to go to the same university" Masato added giving a bite to his burger.

Chiaki felt a pang of guilt, he couldn't exactly tell them about him being a Shinkenger so he simply complained "I'm in a weird place right now...with this old man always annoying me by saying my calligraphy is sloppy, this dramatic guy and this princess..."

"What?" Both of his friends asked at the same time in a very surprised tone.

"Is it like a university prep school?" Masato asked.

"Something like that" Chiaki said, then he noticed that his friends were giving him weird looks he smiled and said "Nevermind"

"You know you can tell us" Kouji said.

Chiaki shrugged and took a sip of his soda, they wouldn't understand and he couldn't exactly tell them what he was feeling at the moment or ever.

"Chiaki!" He heard a voice say. He turned to see who the person was and saw Kaoru, who was a few meters away and had a serious face. 

"Why is she following me?" He thought in annoyance and said "Hey!"

"Who is her?" Masato asked "Is she with you at that school?"

"Sorta, she keeps hitting me" He said and asked "Why are you here?"

"We have to get back to-" She started to say as she made a sign to Ryuusosuke who was around to let him know that she had found Chiaki.

"I know I have to go back!" He interrupted her and muttered "It's not like I have any other option..."

She was a about to say something when an Ayakashi got out from a space between the tiles on the floor, it was Rokuneri.

The Ayakashi quickly punched a man who had been sat on a planter and then attacked the rest of the people in the food court.

"What the-" Chiaki's friends started to aske at the same time.

"Gedoushuu" Both samurai interrupted them and then took out their shodophones "Ippitsu Soujo!"

"We have to-" Shinken Red started to explain her plan to her retairner.

"I can handle this" Shinken Green interrupted and lunged forward.

Rokuneri just laughed and punched the floor as his fists moved through the ground and hit both Shinkenger, the Shinken Blue tried to slash the Ayakashi.

"What happened to always be on alert?" Shinken Green asked rather haughty.

"Focus" The Red samurai snapped as she dodged a punch from the Ayakashi.

"I got this!" He said as he jumped towards a building and the got hit again.

"What an idiot, my fist always hit their mark" Rokuneri boasted after a laugh.

Meanwhile Shinken Red tried to attack Rokuneri with the help of Shinken Blue.  A few moments later Shinken Yellow and Shinken Pink arrived to the scene just before the Ayakashi hit Masato and Kouji with its fist when the two boys tried to go help their friend.

"You were supposed to be on alert!" Shinken Red reprimanded as she blocked a hit supposed to be for Shinken Green.

"I had everything under control!" He complained.

As Shinken Pink and Shinken Yellow helped the injured civilians, Shinken Blue used his ShinkenMaru to create a water screen that would let then retreat from the battle.

"Oh, well" Rokuneri said pleased with himself "I need to head back before I dry out anyway"

*****Back at the Shiba Manor*****

Mako and Kotoha decided to accompain the kuroko who were taking Chiaki's friends to the hospital. Both boys had been seriously injured and the doctors stimated that they wouldn't be leaving for a week or two,it depended on how fast their  injuries healed.

Meanwhile Kaoru, Chiaki and Ryuunosuke headed back to the mansion, Jii had been worried and didn't hesitate to give them all a lecture as they hadn't really nformed him about going out to search for the Green smaurai and he gave an special lecture to Chiaki as he hadn't written the 500 characters.

"Did you think you could win by yourself?!" Jii reprimanded Chiaki as the Blue samurai treated the scrape the young boy had on his forehead.

"At least admit you were wrong" Ryuunosuke said, the kabuki actor sounded more as a dissapointed father than a concerned teammate.

"You know this is your fault" Kaoru said trying not to raise her eyes from the tea cup she was drinking. She knew that Jii would give a very long lecture later and more training hours, what she has done was reckless and since she had been reckless...two civilians and her retainer were hurt.

"I know it!" He responded in a low tone and grabbed his head with his hands "I wasn't strong enough..."

"Wrong!" Jii said strongly "It's because you went to see them"

Chiaki snapped his head up and Kaoru just turned her head, she knew where this was going. They couldn't have attachments to people beacuse if they did...they could get hurt or even worse, they could die.

They were safer without them.

She didn't hear what Jii was saying but they had to figure out Rokuneri's technique.

"Quit being a samurai" Jii said.

"What?" Chiaki asked offended.

"I have to agree, you are too far behind in your training" Ryuunosuke said looking down "We can't have you slacking..."

Chiaki looked at Kaoru for a second as if looking for some support as Kotoha and Mako entered the room. The Red samurai simply said "Just..."

"I knew it" He said as he stormed out.

"Damn it" Kaoru muttered and then told Jii and the others  "Don't call him yet, he will come back"

As he said, he had to.

Then she added "Everyone, figure out his technique...or else"

*****Later, at the Arcades*****

Chiaki had gone to the hospital to visit hia friends, he had tried to go inside but their parents were there and he didn't have enough courage to face them.

They didn't know that it was his fault but still.

After that he went to his favorite arcade as he thought about how to defeat the Ayakashi.

Suddenly, he got an idea as he picked up a tree branch.

*****Meanwhile at the Shiba Manor*****

Kaoru had decided to have her dinner at her room.

She felt that both Jii and Ryuunosuke had overruled her on the situation, she was only going to tell Chiaki to finish his task and give him some training hours.

And maybe tell him to figure out Rokuneri's technique, not that she actually thought he could do it as soon as they needed it.

She sat outside of her room with a training sword in her hand.

Then she realized something

*****The next day, at a square*****

Rokuneri had gotten back to the Human World and this time it got an army of Nanashi to lead. They were attacking some civilians that had been there when they got out of the spaces between tiles on the floor.

"What about Chiaki?" Kotoha asked.

"He'll come...eventually" Kaoru said calmly and took out her Shodophone "Ippitso Soujo"

They all transformed into their Shinkenger forms and when they were about lunging forward to attack the Gedoushu, Chiaki jumped right in front of them.

He didn't turn to see them and just said "From now on I fight on my own" and took out his Shodophone to transform "Shinken Gree, Tani Chiaki"

He then went forward to attack the Ayakashi who was laughing at him and Shiken Blue just looked down to the side and muttered "What is that fool doing?!"

"It doesn't matter" Shinken Red said.

"But..." Shinken Pink started to say.

"Let's move" Shinken Red responded and they all started to fight the Nanashi while Shinken Green fought a Nanashi while trying to get near Rokuneri.

The other four Shinkengers used their ShinkenMarus to use their special attacks to clear the field and then Shinken Red used and special disk to use a special attack with lightening.

Menawhile, Shinken Green had finally reached Rokuneri and was fighting him.

"I gues you haven't had enough of my technique" The Aykashi boasted as it hit the floor with its fist "Extended arms!"

"If you thinkk you can catch me, bring it on!"

"You are wasting your time if your plan is to run away"

Shinken Green kept running as the arms were chasing him through a few buildings, at one moment the Shinkenger was back in front of the Ayakashi who said "Stop wriggling around!"

A fist almost hit him when Shinken Red blocked it and then Rokuneri said "I have more than one arm!"

The Red samurai dodged it as it hit directly the wall while Shinken Green protested "I already told you that this guy is mine!"

"Focus!" She said as she rubbed her side, despite not being hit she had gotten hurt by the rubble created by the hit.

The Green samurai lunged forward and tried to slash the Ayakashi who in turn tried to attack him with its fist but its arms were tangled between the pilars of the building.

"That happens when you are too cocky" Shinken Green scolded Rokuneri and used his special attack with his ShinkenMaru finishing it. Shinken Green walked over to Shinken Red and asked "What about now?"

The other three Shinkengers went to them, Shinken Yellow complimented her teammate "You did great, Chiaki!"

He rubbed his neck and was about to say something when Shinken Blue said "I don't know what to say about your swordsmanship and fighting skills"

Shinken Green was about to start a fight with him but Shinken Pink got in the middle and said "Stop, the Ayakashi wans't fighting fair. It's fine" then looked at Shinken Red "Isn't it?"

"I suppose" She said and looked up while saying "The second life"

"I can handle this too!" Shinken Green said as he got Kuma Origami out but Shinken Red stopped him and said "We need Samurai Gattai for this"

"Wait-"

"Let's do this!"

The other Shinkengers out out their Origami and then they formed Samurai Gattai while Shinken Green kept complaining.

"You can't make us combine liked that" Shinken Green started to yell "I said that I-"

"Silence" Shinken Red said cuttingly.

"Don't silence me"

"Silence"

"Chiaki" Shinken Pink called him out "We are in the middle of a battle"

"Honestly-" Shinken Blue started to berate the Green smurai.

"You too, silence" Shinken Red said "Focus on the battle"

"Why are we standing still? We should move or you are trying to give it a target?" Shinken Green asked.

"We have to feel the attack then dodge" Shinken Red explained.

They waited for a while as the Ayakashi's arms traveled through the ground and then doged the hit when it came trhough a building, then the Gattai  slashed the arms with its katana and then they finished Rokuneri with the Samurai Giri.

*****Later, at the Shiba Manor*****

Chiaki had decided to go to the Shiba Manor and remain a Shinkenger, he didn't exactly use the words Ryuunosuke wanted to hear but for Kaoru it was sufficient to have her team complete.

Still, Jii decided to have them both finish their calligraphy practice.

They were practicing when suddenly Chiaki asked "You knew what I was trying to do, right?"

Kaoru kept writing her new characters without giving any sign that she was hearing, the Green samurai continued "You helped me...I didn't beat the Ayakashi on my own" Then he added "My plan just worked beacuse you distracted it"

She still didn't acknowledge him, she wanted to hear what he was going to say.

"I'm not quitting"

The Red samurai didn't say anything but then stood up and went to where he was sitting and said "You won't beat anyone if you don't train more seriously"

"What?"

"Just keep working on that" And started to walk out "Also, I never said that you should quit"

Chapter Text

*****At the Shiba Manor*****

Kaoru had been practicing the new characters that were given to her by Jii, unlike her teammates she was practicing them at her room since they were not to be seen by anyone else.

Also Jii had not given up trying to get her to socialize more with her retainers, sure she liked Kotoha well enough as a training partner but Kaoru wasn't going to make friends with her.

And Ryuunosuke and Chiaki got on her nerves but for different reasons, one was too invested on the samurai traditions (someone has to give him the memo that this isn't a period drama) and the other was too much of a slacker.

Mako...was still analyzing everyone and reminded her too much of her mother to her taste, the Pink samurai seemed to be the kind of person who wanted to take care of everyone but also knew no boundaries.

Also, Ryuunosuke had been interested on talking with the other about their feelings about being a samurai or something like that.

Too much drama.

She was pondering on that while Jii evaluated her work, he seemed to be pleased by it though she saw him frowning a few times but didn' say anything.

"Hime-sama, breakfast is about to be ready" Jii fianlly said "You should go, your characters are acceptable"

The Shiba Clan lady deflated a little, acceptable wasn't enough.

She stood up and went with a heavy heart to the main room where her retainers were practicing their own characters.

Well, were supposed to but it seemed that they had already finished...except for Chiaki who was still practicing the character for "leaves" with Kotoha watching him. Mako was reading a magazine and Ryuunosuke sat in front of him while saying "A samurai's life is pretty hard, isn't it?"

Chiaki gave Ryuunosuke a weirded out look and said "Why are you doing this again?"

"You can always talk to me about anyting" The Blue samurai insisted.

"I'm fine" The Green samurai said and looked away.

Ryuunosuke was down for a seconde before putting his hands on Kotoha's shoulders while saying "If you have any worries, tell me"

The Yellow samurai smiled brightely as she always did and asked in confusion "Worries? Why would I have worries?"

The young man seemed to lose his calmness for a moment and then regained it before saying "You know, like...if you want to go home or if you feel alone..."

Kotoha tilted her head and smiled not understanding, then she said "I...think I am okay"

Chiaki stood up wanting to avoid further annoyance and went to Kaoru while saying "Could you stop that?"

"Stop what?" She asked wanting to hear more of the conversation between Ryuunosuke and Kotoha, the truth be told she had never thought about her retainers' feelings about leaving their previous life. Well not much, it wasn't like she could emphatize...she had always lived at the Shiba Manor with Jii and before that with her mother.

"He is being annoying"

Kaoru tilted her head and said "Kotoha seems fine with him asking"

"Everything is fine for Kotoha" He scoffed and crossed his arms before leaning on the wall.

"True" She muttered and added "Has he been doing this for long?"

Chiaki seemed to think for a second before saying "Since yesterday"

She was about to say something when she heard Kotoha saying with a smile "There is no need to worry"

And then the Yellow samurai took a sip of her tea while the Blue samurai made a pout while nodding , Kaoru was about to step in to talk with Kotoha when she saw Ryuunosuke sitting next to Mako.

She leaned on the wall to hear the conversation, she knew that Jii would scold her for doing that but she wanted to see and hear what the Pink samurai could say.

Mako wasn't one to tolerate Ryuunosuke.

In the last few weeks they had been living together Kaoru noticed that while Mako could be kind (usually), she wasn't exactly the most understanding person to those who annoyed her and among those was their teammate.

"Mako! You have been keeping quiet about something" Ryuunosuke said in a tone of voice that made Kaoru and Chiaki cringe "If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know"

The pink samurai turned her head in annoyance and told her teammate "You are annoying"

"Eh?" The blue samurai blinked in confusion and then started to say "But, Mako-"

The young woman hit him with the magazine she was reading an gave him a look that warned him not to keep speaking with her and so Ryuunosuke stood up while pout.

"Well, he had it coming" Chiaki muttered and tilted his head before saying "At least he is not comming to pester you"

"He wouldn't do that" Kaoru simply said and shrugged, something that surely would gain a scold from Jii as it was undignified for a Shiba, then she added "He is too keen on keeping traditions to try to ask such a personal question"

"Oh, right" The teenager rolled his eyes and said with a mocking tone "You are hime-sama"

For a moment Kaoru considered hitting him with a fan, then she remembered that her favorite one was in her bedroom and settled for shooting an annoyed look at him.

"I'm going training" She said after a moment and decide to try to be kind, so she asked "Want to come?"

Chiaki scrunched his nose and putting his hands on his pockets he said "Pass"

"Your loss" She said and started to go to the training yard when the Sukima Sensor rang.

*****At a Shinto Temple*****

There was a boy speaking with an Ayakashi named Namiayashi, apparently the Gedou was trying to convince him about something and they were talking secretively.

Shinken Red motioned her teammates to follow her and Shinken Green and Shinken Blue attacked it with her. Meanwhile Shinken Yellow and Shinken Pink went to help the boy who seemed to be overly confused at the situation.

"I have no business with you five" Namiayashi said "My fun beings here"

Then it disappeared into a crevice.

The five samurai stood there trying to understand what did the Ayakashi meant with "fun" and then Shinken Pink said "That child worries me, who knows what it told-?"

"Let's go find him" Shinken Red interrupted not wanting to waste any time her "Let's split"

They all unheshined and then went their separate ways to find the boy.

*****At a park*****

As far as Kaoru remembered Ayakashi only went to children to make them scared not talk, it was strange that the boy wasn't scared of Nimiayashi.

She decided to go to children's park and its surroundings to seach for the kid, it was the only place she could think of and there was no hurt on trying to find him there.

It was fairly quiet for an afternoon and there was just a bunch of kids at the playground.

The Red samurai couldn't remember the last time she went to one of those places and as she watched some little girls playing on the swings she felt a pang of nostalgia.

"I thought you said that we should find the kid" She heard Chiaki's voice approaching and when she turned to face him, the girl saw that he had a box of oden.

"I'm looking for him" The Red samurai said and looked pointedly at the oden "Unlike you"

"He couldn't have gone that far" He said without any preocupation "And its no like the Ayakashi will come back soon"

Kaoru wanted to scold him but instead kept her cool. He was right no Ayakashi returned for while, especially when they started to go dry.

Instead she motioned him to follow her as she started to go down to the other park where she knew that was a baseball field.

"Can't I least finish my oden?" He asked annoyed.

She didn't answer and kept motioning him to follow.

The walk to the field was silent as neither of them wanted to start a conversation with the other.

Kaoru was glad and grateful for the silence, it was something that she needed after the reatiners started living at the manor.

There was too much noise nowadays.

For his part, Chiaki was glad for the silence as he still didn't know what to make about the team leader and she always seemed to be pissed off at him.

When they were approaching the field, they saw Ryuunosuke and Mako already talking to the boy though it didn't seem that he was receptive about receiving their help.

"Well, they found him" Chiaki said and started eating the oden he had left and when he saw her annoyed look he said "Do you want?"

She just shook her head and said "Let's go back to the mansion, they will take care of this"

"Are you sure?" He asked a little worried. Sure, he didn't want to follow the kid around but what would happen if the Ayakashi returned.

Kaoru was about to respond when both of them got a message on their Shodophones, it was from Mako and it read "Found him, we are going to keep an eye on him and see if the Ayakashi comes back"

"I suppose we can head home" Chiaki said relaxing a bit, at least the kid would have someone to look out for him just in case, and then saw Kotoha near.

"Hime-sama! Chiaki!" She called them and Kaoru noticed that she was relieved.

"She hasn't gone out much yet, surely she was worried that she wouldn't find her way back to the manor easily" Kaoru realized after a few seconds and said "We were about to go to the manor, it's good that we found you"

Kotoha smiled.

*****Back at the Shiba Manor*****

When they got back they explained the situation to Jii, who was worried about them as they didn't exactly tell the kuroko about where they were going, and after that each of them went back to their rooms.

Kaoru had left some of her new characters undone so she decided to practice Mojikara before going to the training yard.

She was training her sword technique when she smelled smoke.

The Red samurai looked around to see if she could determine the origin of the smoke but she realized that it wasn't near her.

Was something burning inside the manor?

She ran back into the manor and saw the smoke filling the hallway and she felt her heart rising as she fought back some memories.

Then she realized that the origin of the smoke was the kitchen and so she went to investigate, she saw some kuroko coming out and in with some towels and one of them was carrying a fire extingisher.

"What is happening?" Kaoru asked and went to the kitchen's door.

"Ryuunosuke and Mako have decided not to take their eyes off that kid, he stayed there while she came to cook"

"She said that he was feeling homesick so she is prepraing a bento for him" Kotoha responded without looking at her, the younger girl was looking at the Pink samurai in awe.

Kaoru frowned and thought "Oh, him being homesick makes sense, that was why he was being so annoying"

"I admire people who knows how to cook" Kotoha commented and said "I could never learn even when my grandmother tried to teach me"

The Red samurai simply muttered "I never learnt to cook either"

"Is that cooking?" Chiaki said snickering as he saw how Mako used her Shinkenmaru to cut a cabagge when she realized that she wouldn't be able to cut it with the knife she was using.

A kuroko just stood there wanting to give her some tips but she shook him off.

"She said that she wanted to learn how to take care of a household since she wants to be a normal bride" Kotoha added.

Chiaki fell on his back from the surprise while Kaoru snickered, a samurai could never be normal and the fact that she was using her Shinkenmaru to cook showed that.

She remembers that her mother used too cook, sometimes. She never used a katana to do so though.

"I just hope that Ryuunosuke doesn't die" Kaoru muttered but she knew that Chiaki had heard her when he snickered.

They didn't find it so funny when Mako said that she had left some food for them after packing everything she could.

Only Kotoha ate that food.

*****The next day at the Shiba Manor*****

Kaoru was not surprised when she went to the main room and only Kotoha and Jii were there taking their breakfast.

"Are Ryuunosuke and Mako looking over that kid?" She asked for confirmation.

"Yes, they haven't returned yet" Jii informed her "There have been no signs of the Ayakashi either"

She nodded and sat down as one kuroko offered her a cup of tea.

"Where is Chiaki?" She asked, again knowing the answer but wanting her suspicions be confirmed.

"He overslept" Kotoha said.

"Is there any day that we have no training at dawn that he doesn't oversleep?" Kaoru thought. At least he no longer needed the kuroko to wake him up when they had to train on the morning, something about him wanting to get better at being a samurai.

"I should give him a talk" Jii said with dissapoinment, he truly felt that the Green samurai should be more serious about his intents at getting better as a retainer but he also knew that he was too young still to truly assimilate the situation...then again, the princess was the same age as him and was very serious about her duty.

She had to be.

"I'm here" Chiaki said after a long yawn and stretching his arms. He sat unceremoniously and thanked the kuroko for this meal.

He then noticed that Jii was looking at him as if he was going to be given a lecture.

"What?" He asked "I'm early"

Jii was about to scold him but the sukima sensor rang and they had to leave to help the others with the Ayakashi.

*****A forest near the Shinto Temple*****

When Shinken Red, Shinken Yellow and Shinken Green arrived to the battle Shinken Pink and Shinken Blue were down and Namiayashi was laughing at them.

"Sorry for being late" Shinken Yellow said.

"Focus" Shinken Red told them as Nannashi came out the ground.

The five Shinkenger used ther special weapons to fight them easily as the Ayakashi was fighting Shinken Pink and Shinken Blue.

"We have to attack him at the same time" Shinken Pink told Shinken Blue as she put a hand on his shoulder.

"Okay" He said as he stood up.

Then they used the Water Arrow and Heaven fan to attack Namiayashi and end his first life.

"We did it, Mako" Shinken Blue said and tried to put his hand on her shoulder but she turned to Shinken Yellow, who said "That was great, Mako-chan"

"Good job...Mako, Ryuunosuke" Shinken Red praised them. Jii had told her that it was a good idea to tell her retainers when they did something good.

"Not bad" Shinken Green said shrugging and pointed at the sky "Second life"

"Leave this to me" Shinken Pink said taking out Kame Origami.

"I'll follow you" Shinken Blue nodded while taking out Ryuu Origami.

As both Origami took their giant form they went forward to attack Namiayashi and worked together to make an attack as Ryuu Origami lifted Kame Origami to threw it at the Ayakashi.

"We should join them" Shinken Red said and took out her Origami.

"Okay" Shinken Green and Shinken Yellow agreed.

Then they combined all Origami in Samurai Gattai.

The Ayakashi and the mecha engaged each other in the fight, then Namiayashi bite it and made the Shinkengers drop their sword and almost fall to their feet.

"What's up with this guy?" Shinken Green asked.

"Hime-sama,I have an idea" Shinken Blue said after a few seconds.

Shinken Red turned her head to him and after considerng it, she said "Okay then, I'll leave it to you"

"Thank you" The Blue samurai bowed a little before turning to his station and using the Ryuu nobori gyaru which made the Samurai Gattai jump up.

Then Shinken Pink used the Kame Tenkuu Ken which make Kame Origami punch the Ayakashi and when they lifted up their sword.

"Samurai Giri!" They all said finally slashing Namiayashi

*****At the baseball field*****

The five samurai were watching the baseball game and all of them were relieved that the kid was okay, his leg was broken and couldn't play but he at least now knew that he shouldn't trust an Ayakashi.

Also he seemed to be listening to his coach advise.

Kaoru tilted her head a little before sighing and writting the character "Memory" to conjure the memory of the child's grandfather.

It was brief but she knew that he would be happy, at least for a moment.

Chiaki looked weirdly at her and raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, Kotoha just said "Very impressive, hime-sama"

The Red samurai just shrugged and said "Let's get back home"

*****The Gardens*****

Kaoru was tending to the new flowers the kuroko had gotten for the garden when she heard a few steps behind her and was not actually too suprised to see Kotoha there with her flute on her hands.

"I-" The Yellow samurai started to say with some embarrasement.

"You can stay, I don't mind" Kaoru said turning back to her flowers and considered if she really liked the white shirageku they had gotten instead of the red ones they had before. After a silence she added "I know you come here at night since you came to live here, you play the flute well"

The younger girl blinked a few times before bowing her head and saying "T-Thank you, hime-sama"

After half an hour or so they heard the sound of broken plates and Kaoru asked "Mako?"

The Yellow samurai shook her head and said "Ryuu-san seems to have developed a crush on Mako-chan and is trying to cook for her"

The Red samurai sighed and thought "I hope them cooking doesn't become an habit"

Chapter Text

*****A few days later*****

*****At the Shiba Manor*****

Jii was confused about why the princess had told him to give the retainers a day off but he decided not to ask much when he noticed that she was going to the bodaiji* and she was carrying the bag she used when she went away to train full-day or sometimes days.

He would have been more worried had the wards not been in place. It had been a great idea by the 15th Head of the Shiba Clan to put wards all around their estate.

Then he noticed that she also had the disk of the Kabuto Origami in clutched on her hand.

The old man sighed and decided to step up and say "Hime-sama, you don't have yet the abilities to use that disk" He made a pause and considered it for a moment before saying" Masataka-tono was much older and skilled than you when he started using the disk"

The girl gave him a look that had some challenge on it and simply asked "The retainers?"

"They have gone to the amusement park by Kotoha's suggestion"

"Good" She said and then took out a scroll from her bag "I meant to send the response by post but since you have encountered me first, I think you could send a more proper answer"

Jii grabbed the scroll and after a quick read he sighed once more, then he said "I will send a quick reply. When are you planning on returning, hime-sama?"

"Tomorrow's morning" She said firmly leaving no space for discussion, she was about to leave but then added "I left the plan for the training session to the kuroko"

Without waiting for an answer, the Red samurai left and Jii just looked down to the scroll while thinking with some nostalgia about how when she was younger always begged her mother (and after her death, him) to take her to the haunted house for some reason.

*****At some food court near the amusement park*****

Chiaki saw with some disgust how Ryuunosuke tried to flirt with Mako not having taken the hint that she wasn't interested on him.

He was sure that even Kotoha had noticed that Mako was trying to let him down in a not so gently way having already pushed him away when they were trying to get some cotton candy.

Then to ease some of the tension, Chiaki had suggested to have some ice cream.

The Green samurai wondered if that old man, Jii, had picked up on the one-sided romance. 

He snorted at the thought.

"I wonder why Kaoru-san hasn't come" Mako said, she refused to call her princess and about using the honorific "chan"... well, they were not there yet.

"I haven't seen her since last night" Kotoha commented as she ate her ice cream with delight as it was not usual for her to have something sweet.

"The kuroko were preparing some breakfast were early this morning" Ryuunosuke commented.

"Then she stayed training" Chiaki simply said shrugging uninterested.

They all looked at him with some surprise and he said "Come on, what else is the princess gonna do? Though it's not like we would actually know, she kind of tries to keep us at arm's reach"

"That's not true" Kotoha quietly said.

"I don't think I've ever had a normal conversation with Kaoru"

Mako flinched a little when she noticed that Ryuunosuke was clutching his fist and was about to start a fight about Chiaki's lack of manners.

Then again, Chiaki was kind of right. They never had an actual conversation with their leader and she was kind of hard to read.

"She is nice" The Yellow samurai said "Hime-sama and I talk a little when I go to the gardens at night"

"The gardens?" Mako asked confusedly.

"I play the flute sometimes there; she takes care of her flowers"

"Oh"

Before either of the boys could say something, an Ayakashi, Yanasudare, got out of a crevice and started to shot around.

"Useless, useless, everything is pointless!"

They all henshined into their Shinkengers forms.

"You will play for this, Gedousshu" Shinken Blue said.

"You are useless!" Yanasudare said as he pointed his gun against the samurai.

Shinken Green tried to land a hit on the Ayakashi but failed at it and instead bounced against it.

"Your attacks are useless" It said and was about to attack the four samurai after they tried a combined attack when Shinken Red attacked him from behind.

"It's useless, you can't cut me" Yanasudare mocked Shinken Red after repeated intents at landing a strike.

"I don't remember reading about him being intangible" Shinken Red thought as she avoided being hit by its shot.

She fell hard on her back before saying "We are going to use mojikara, attack at the same time"

They all used their special discs on their shinkenmaru which finally allowed the samurai to hit the Ayakashi.

Yanasudare bend a little bit surprised that they had managed to hurt it but then said as it attacked the Shinkengers "If that's all you have, then you are useless!"

They all moved away to dodge the shots, then Shinken Red summoned the Rekka Daizantou and used it as a shield.

As she covered her retainers, she thought "Maybe...I can use the Kabuto disc"

She was about to take it out but the Ayakashi dried out and fled the battlefield.

Shinken Red turned to see her retainers and she saw that they weren't too hurt by the battle but she noticed that their spirits were crushed when Shinken Green said "Our swords didn't hurt it, what are we supposed to do now?"

"What if he didn’t dry out?" Shinken Blue said on defeat.

"Are we useless?" Shinken Yellow asked with sadness on her voice.

The team leader didn't know how to raise their spirits and instead she said "Let's get back to the manor, you have to rest"

*****At the Shiba Manor*****

The retainers were still mulling on their defeat during dinner and Jii seemed to pick up on it but didn't say anything when he noticed that Kaoru was deep in thought too.

Jii knew that telling them not to feel totally defeated wouldn't raise their spirits and after some mutterings from Ryuunosuke, he said "Fear is your greatest enemy but you can't lose confidence, instead we should be thinking about how to defeat it"

"Our shinkenmaru were useless against the Ayakashi!" Chiaki protested and then added with a bit of detachment "It kept calling us useless too..."

"We didn't use enough mojikara, when we used our special attacks on the Ayakashi he was actually hurt" Kaoru responded.

"It didn't beat it!" Mako snapped but then looked away.

"As I said, there wasn't enough mojikara on our attacks” Kaoru said from her seat and added before standing up "You all are dismissed, I'l work on the solution"

"What do you mean?" Chiaki demanded as she went to her room.

"Hime-sama, we want to help" Kotoha said standing up.

Kaoru grasped the disc on her pocket and considered tellign them about the Kabuto disc but refrained from doing so as the Hidden Discs were always used only by the Shiba Clan head, she just said as she opened her door "You are helping by focusing on recuperating from the fight"

She just hoped that she was going to be able to use all the mojikara that was necessary for her idea to work.

****The Bodaiji****

Kaoru kept trying to use the double mojikara on the Rekka Daizantou and master the attack but kept failing at it, she felt as if she was burning inside.

"This is the only way to defeat the Ayakashi" She thought as she fell down on her back once again.

She knew that Jii had followed her with some kuroko just in case she hurt herself, she knew that her great-grandfather Shiba Koichiro had almost died after using the Hidden Discs during a battle.

Jii, on the other hand, just hoped that she would master the disc before the Ayakashi returned as the retainers weren't used to the battle yet and their spirits were too crushed to actually think about training harder to focus their mojikara to use it on a double scale.

He also knew that only the show of strength by their liege would be the only thing to restore their confidence, it was a burden the only the Head of the Shiba Clan could carry.

*****The next morning*****

Kaoru had kept trying to use the double of mojikara on her attack till very early on the morning and fell unconscious on the ground. 

Her hands and arms had burns, her face had some cuts from constantly falling over the stones and pebbles on the ground.

Jii almost felt bad about having to make her get up but it was her duty "Hime-sama, the Ayakashi returned, the retainers have gone to battle"

The girl just stood up after a few tries, she didn't let the kuroko help her as she lifted the Rekka Daizantou and then said "Everything is fine, I'll go"

She made a face when she started walking but kept going on.

*****A square near some buildings*****

Shinken Blue stood in front of Yanasudare resigned to die when they heard some drums and saw the Shiba Clan banners, then Shinken Red appeared with the Rekka Daizantou on hand and said "That's far enough, Geddousshu!"

"Useless effort!" Yanasudare said but with some amusement added "But I'll fight you"

The four samuraikept on their places and Shinken Yellow asked "What is she going to do?"

"She should move on" Shinken Green said with some frustation.

"No attack?!" The Ayakashi said "I thought you were going to finish me off!"

Shinken Red opened the case on her belt and took out the Kabuto disc, then put it on her weapon before charging it with mojikara and attaking the Ayakashi with the cannon mode.

She struggled to control it before taking her special disc out and saying ”All of you! I need your help!"

Her reatiners quickly got to her side and put their discs on the Rekka Daizantou 

"Kabuto Five Ring Blast"

The attack landed on the Ayakashi finishing it off as it said "It's useless"

"That was amazing!" Shinken Green said.

"Why didn't you-?" Shinken Pink started to ask but then they saw the Ayakashi take its second form.

They formed the Samurai Gattai and tried to land a hit with their katana but failed at it just like when they fought the Ayakashi the first time and so Yanasudare shot them.

"It seems we have to use more mojikara again" Shinken Blue said and looked at Shinken Red.

She went outside the mecha and summoned Kabuto Origami before going forward to attack Yanasudare.

The Ayakashi summoned some Nannashi to counter attack and the new origami on the field blasted some attack against them, then it joined the Shinken-Oh.

"What is this, hime-sama?" Shinken Blue asked.

"Focus" Shinken Red responded "Explanations later"

"Don't back down, attack!" Yanasudare told the Nannashi.

The samurai blasted mojikara attacks against the Gedousshu and quickly destroyed them under the surprised gaze of the Ayakashi.

"Still your sword can't hurt me!" It said before the Samurai Gattai blasted a mojikara attack finishing it.

"This brings a chapter to an end"

*****At the stairs near the amusement park*****

When they got out of the gattai and unhenshined to their civilian forms, Kaoru avoided to turn to them as she had gone to the battlefield without letting the kuroko clean her wounds.

It wouldn't be reasuring for them to see her that way ans so she walked fast a few steps in front of them.

She grimaced at the thought of having to face Jii's concerned face when she arrived to the manor.

"Hime-sama, would you like to come to the amusement park?" Kotoha asked trying to approach her but she walked faster.

"We still have our day-off,right?" Chiaki asked following both girls.

Kaoru stopped on her tracks before saying with a sigh "Yes, you do" She rubbed her eyes a little before adding "You can go, I'll go back home"

Then she left as Mako and Ryuunosuke got closer to the teenagers, the pink samurai commented "Well, Chiaki was right...she is keeping us an arm length"

"I knew it" Chiaki said with a triumphal smile.

"I wonder why she didn't tell us about the disc" Mako then said.

"I suppose she has her reasons " Ryuunosuke said " But it worked and that's what matters, right?"

"That's what matters" Kotoha agreed.

*****Back at the Shiba Manor*****

Kaoru walked as fast as possible to the manor but she was intercepted by Jii before she could reach the common room.

He had a concerned face but she also saw some proudness on his expression.

The red samurai let a smile of relief form on her face as she clung onto the pilar that was on the entrance, she then said "Being honest, I had my doubts but it worked"

"You did well, hime-sama"He assured her as he motioned the kuroko to come in to tend to her wounds, then he added "Didn't you want to join them at the amusement park? I heard that the haunted house is still there"

"Some other day I'll go" She said with some tiredness on her voice.

Chapter Text

*****At the Shiba Manor*****

Kaoru had been avoiding group training and having dinner with the retainers in favor of staying in her room, practicing the new characters given to her by Jii a few weeks before.

Learning them was a more pressing matter than perfecting her sword technique, which was already nearly perfected.

The scars on her face and hands had not yet faded, and she knew the kuroko thought they should have taken care of them before she fought Yanasudare. However, at the time, there were more pressing matters than tending to non-lethal wounds.

She looked at herself in the mirror on her night table and wondered if her scars would discourage her retainers. Then she decided that they had already been warned about the risks of becoming a Shinkenger, and it wasn't like she had deceived them.

She hadn't lied to them to convince them to fulfill their duties as samurai. 

They had been raised all their lives for that, though one might argue that Chiaki was an exception which made her wonder how did his clan had raised him.

After some thought, Kaoru went out to the training yard, where, as she had expected, Jii was observing the retainers' skill development while he drank a cup of tea.

"Kotoha has improved a lot," Jii commented without turning to her as she sat down and received a cup of tea from a kuroko. "Ryuunosuke is still the best among them, though."

The Red samurai nodded and focused her gaze on the Yellow samurai, who was sparring against the Green one. It was interesting to see how much Chiaki could improve (or try to) his swordsmanship when set against someone with supposedly equal training, age-wise.

That included herself, but at least Jii hadn't paired them up for training as often as he could have. 

She was thankful for that, as she wouldn't want to badly injure one of her vassals.

She shook her head and turned her attention to Mako and Ryuunosuke, who were pretty much equal in skill. Kaoru wondered how much effort their parents had put into their training. 

The Ikenami clan was known for being good kabuki actors, so they must have discipline. She didn't know much about the Shiraishi family, although whoever raised the former teacher must have been demanding.

The princess had been too focused on the Pink and Blue samurai to notice when Chiaki fell on his back over a rock and groaned in pain.

"I'm sorry!" Kotoha exclaimed as she dropped her wooden sword and tried to help the Green samurai stand up. He simply shoved her hand away, though she still tried to check if he was okay.

Kaoru was unimpressed by both of their reactions.

She had grown used to them and turned to Jii, saying, "I'll go practice mojikara; they seem to be doing well." She looked at Chiaki, who was still trying to refuse help from Kotoha.

"Make them change pairs for once. They won't improve their skills if they always have the same opponent... they'll get complacent." Then she added, trying to suppress a smile and using a soft tone, "Though someone could use a break before continuing with their training."

The Green samurai huffed in indignation and continued to shove Kotoha's hand away as the Red samurai stood up and left, not wanting to deal with her retainers' drama. She went back into the mansion.

Kaoru returned to her room and took out some training sheets. She sat with a sigh before starting to brush strokes on the paper. She knew that learning these new characters was crucial, so she couldn't waste time on skills she had already mastered.

The retainers didn't exactly need her at the moment, so she focused on her practice.

It wasn't long before the sukima sensor interrupted her.

*****A car park near an avenue*****

Through a crevice between a few wood beams, the Ayakashi Zuboshimeshi emerged from the Sanzu River and began to attack people.

However, its attacks were not physical but verbal, using words that would hurt the most.

Zuboshimeshi had been wandering through the streets around a car park for a while before the Shinkenger arrived. Shinken Red was the first to try to land an attack, nearly striking the monster.

"Showing up just when I'm shaking off the rust," Zuboshimeshi said with some delight.

"Quit babbling," Shinken Green responded, charging forward to attack but coming face to face with Zuboshimeshi.

The eyes on the back of the Ayakashi glowed red for a second before it said, "I see... loser," and sent the Green samurai flying.

The other Shinkenger turned to see where their teammate had landed, and Shinken Yellow went to check on him. Meanwhile, Shinken Blue and Shinken Pink attacked the Ayakashi and were struck by its words too.

"Father complex," it said to Ryuunosuke.

"Old maid," it said to Mako.

Both Shinken Yellow and Shinken Red were puzzled as to why those words were so harmful to their teammates.

"What's going on?" the Yellow samurai voiced her question as she stood up.

"Don't let your guard down," the Red samurai said, taking a defensive stance.

"It's not my fault that hearing the truth hurts," Zuboshimeshi said with a chuckle, then rushed forward to Shinken Red and said, "Deep down, you are a failure."

Hearing those words, Shinken Red felt as if she had been punched in the gut and was pushed backward by the attack.

"Hime-sama!" Shinken Yellow gasped.

"Only one is left," the Ayakashi said with satisfaction.

"All you are saying is nonsense," Shinken Yellow said. "The princess isn't a failure."

"If it wasn't true, then it wouldn't have any effect. The damage they take is proof that I'm right!" Zuboshimeshi paused, and the eyes on its back glowed red again.

"Clumsy," it said, but the Yellow samurai lunged forward and slashed it with her Shinkenmaru.

"Impossible," it said, managing to dodge another attack before saying, "Idiot."

However, the words were not having the expected effect, and Shinken Yellow continued to land every hit. Zuboshimeshi tried once more, saying, "Moron," but the word had no effect, and the Ayakashi was struck again.

"Why isn't she—?" Shinken Green wondered aloud.

Trying to stand up, Shinken Red wondered the same, then turned to see if her other two teammates had returned. She saw them trying to walk back to where they were.

"How about this, you dimwitted broad?" Zuboshimeshi said.

Shinken Yellow, unbothered by the words, used her disc to transform her Shinkenmaru into her special weapon and attacked once more.

Noticing that its words hadn't hurt the samurai, the Ayakashi fled through a crevice.

*****At the Shiba Manor*****

Kaoru wasn't sure how to approach the subject.

Even if to do it at all.

She and her team had been defeated by Zuboshimeshi in a very shameful way and, while she usually didn't care much for words, she didn't know what to say to her retainers who seemed to have their morale down.

Especially Kotoha, as she had been the one unaffected by the insults and digs at her faults by the Ayakashi.

They all ate their lunch in silence without looking at each other, and they seemed to be in very low spirits.

At least Jii had given them some words of encouragement after the meal, "As a samurai, if you can remember to remain calm, you should have nothing to fear."

Their heads hung low, and they were silent for a moment. Then Mako broke the silence, "It won't work again."

"That stupid thing," Chiaki muttered, clenching his hand into a fist.

"Father complex," Ryuunosuke murmured, hitting his head on the floor.

Kaoru hadn't been surprised at the digs the Ayakashi had aimed at Mako, who had already said that she wanted to be a wife, and at Chiaki, whose skills still needed work. But she had been surprised at the comment about Ryuunosuke's father.

"It's not bad to have a close relationship with your father," Mako said to him. "You said he was also your kabuki master."

"Right," the former kabuki actor muttered.

The Red samurai wondered when they had gotten close enough to know those details about Ryuunosuke's previous life but didn't comment on it. Especially when Mako kept trying to keep him at arms lenght for his constant attempts to get closer to her.

There was another silence, and the kuroko started to clear up the main room. The retainers began to leave, but then Chiaki asked, "Why wasn't Kotoha affected?"

Kaoru could hear some bitterness in his tone but wouldn't comment on it either. Instead, she focused on Kotoha's confused smile and thought about how she didn't seem affected by anything.

"The Ayakashi knows what would hurt the most to hear," he said. "So why didn't it work on Kotoha?"

"It is indeed strange," Jii said, crossing his arms. Then he turned to the Hanaori clan member and said with a warm smile"Maybe she has some secret power."

Kotoha shook her head. "No, I don't think it's anything special." She paused and looked down. "I'm just used to it..."

Mako directed a concerned look at her teammate while Ryuunosuke focused on hearing her next words.

"People have been calling me clumsy and stupid for a long time. Hearing it from the Ayakashi isn't that different."

There was a pause, and Kotoha smiled while looking up. "It's true anyway."

All of them were uncomfortable, and Kaoru wondered if she should say something else, but Chiaki spoke first. "Stop smiling."

"What?"

"You are always in a rush to say how stupid you are. But—"

Kaoru was getting annoyed. It wasn't their business to pry into Kotoha's issues, so she stepped down from her cushion and interrupted him. "Don't."

"What?" Chiaki turned to her brusquely as if he was ready to start a fight.

"Don't say anything—"

"Her saying, 'I'm so dumb!' sounds like an excuse!" Chiaki interrupted Kaoru and redirected his eyes to Kotoha. "If she feels that way, then she really is stupid."

"You may regret it," Kaoru finished and looked at the Green samurai with contempt as Kotoha left the room, muttering an apology.

Ryuunosuke and Mako shared an uncomfortable look, both thinking that Chiaki had gone overboard, but neither wanted to say it. Meanwhile, Jii had a disapproving gaze at the Green samurai and shook his head.

"Congrats," Kaoru said plainly and took her leave too.

*****At the gardens*****

Kaoru was tending her flowers while listening from a distance to Kotoha playing the flute. She had been playing for quite some time before Chiaki went to speak with the youngest samurai.

The princess hadn't known if or how to approach her vassal. Kotoha had been so strong against the Ayakashi, and then she broke after some thoughtless words.

And it wasn't her business to know how Kotoha's life had been before the call, but she had to admit she was kind of curious about it and would have wanted to ask if Chiaki had not arrived.

As she watched the Green samurai approaching the girl, she felt somewhat grateful not to have to deal with feelings.

She saw some tension at first, but as the seconds passed, both seemed to be more at ease. She almost wanted to know what Chiaki had said to make Kotoha smile.

That seemed good enough.

Then, they received the call informing them about the Ayakashi appearing again.

*****Square near a Prep School*****

The five samurai stood at the top of a stairway, and Shinken Red said, "This ends now, Gedoushuu."

"I was waiting for you," the Ayakashi said. "Do you want me to tell you the truth again?"

"We are not falling for it again," Shinken Pink said with determination in her voice.

"That's right! With a calm and clear mind—" Shinken Blue agreed and started to go down the stairs, but Zuboshimeshi was faster and said to his face, "Mother complex," before going back to the bottom of the stairs.

Shinken Red facepalmed while muttering, "That was some calm mind."

"Why don't we shut his mouth instead?" Shinken Green said while looking down at the Blue samurai.

"Now, keep out of this," Zuboshimeshi said and pointed to Shinken Yellow. "I have a bone to pick with that one." He walked forward while adding, "Meanwhile... take care of them, Nannashi."

While the other four Shinkengers fought the Nannashi with their special weapons, Shinken Yellow landed hits and slashed at the Ayakashi while it kept repeating, "Idiot" and "Clumsy."

"I will find the correct words to get through to you... you used to get picked on!"

"I'm just fine," Shinken Yellow said as she landed another precise hit on the Ayakashi.

Kotoha expected another insult but wasn't ready to hear the Ayakashi say, "You are just a replacement for your sister."

That stopped her for a few seconds, but she struck another slash on Zuboshimeshi. She would have been hurt by it if she had not been helped.

Shinken Green went to help her with his special attack, the Ki No Ha Kakushi, and held Zuboshimeshi as the Yellow Samurai used her mojikara to fill its mouth with stones and then used her Shinkenmaru.

Afterward, Shinken Red used the Kabuto Disc on her Rekka Daizantou and destroyed the first life of the Ayakashi.

"Thanks, Chiaki," Shinken Yellow said happily as he patted her head.

Then the Shinken Oh fought a very angered Zuboshimeshi, but Shinken Yellow and Shinken Green worked together to attack it directly by using Saru Origami, before Shinken Red used the Kabuto one to upgrade the mecha.

They finished the second life with the Kabuto Daikaiten Hou.

"This brings a chapter to a close," Shinken Red managed to say before Shinken Yellow fainted from exhaustion.

*****A pathway near a river*****

Mako and Ryuunosuke walked behind Kaoru and Chiaki, who was carrying a sleepy Kotoha on his back.

"Those words really hurt her, didn't they? Despite her saying otherwise," Mako commented.

"Words always hurt... on different levels, everyone has something they don't want out there," Kaoru said, turning briefly to them before returning her focus to Kotoha. She was mildly proud of her vassal as the Yellow warrior had not let her focus stray for long.

Maybe she should speak to her when she woke up. Just to let her know that she was a good warrior. Kaoru was also glad that Chiaki had helped Kotoha; perhaps he was maturing as a person, but she wouldn't tell him.

"Even failures?" the former kindergarten teacher asked, trying to walk beside Kaoru, but the girl walked faster.

She was not going to have that conversation with Mako; the young woman made her uncomfortable despite her good intentions. The way she was trying to reach her reminded Kaoru of her mother.

"I'm so ashamed to have let its words hurt me," Ryuunosuke said, putting his hands in his pockets. The Pink samurai simply patted his shoulder. "Kotoha is so strong!"

"Your mother complex must be very bad," Mako teased lightly.

Ryuunosuke put a hand over his heart and let out a cry as he fell to his knees. Mako started to walk away but decided to help him stand up.

"Look what you made me do," Chiaki said as he tried not to let Kotoha fall down. "You really are stupid, aren't you?"

Kaoru was ready to tell him to shut up, but he then added with a smile, "But you are amazing!"

"Thanks," Kotoha softly responded before drifting back to sleep.