Love Again

Copyright 2021 by Kat Thomas

All rights reserved.

Cover design by Canva Kat Thomas

Book design by Kat Thomas

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Due to many thefts of online work This copyright notice will be there on every online posting from now on. I will also say I will take action on any person or company who posts my work without permission.

1580 Sengoku period

She was a bright breath of fresh air. He had brought her with him to Azchui to be introduced to Nobunaga as his bride to be. Mitsuhide didn’t care about the fact she was low born and had to make her way in the world. She was his light in the world and had been since they were younger and she came into service for his father. She worked hard as a simple seamstress and when his brother who now headed his clan and offered her to him and the new fief he gladly accepted.

When the time arose, she was presented in front of all his allies. Everyone loved her as it was almost impossible to not. She quickly made friends with everyone, and they saw the light in her as well. She was loving and kind to every person she met. They had scheduled the wedding to take place in one month. She had things to prepare for, and he could not wait too much longer.

The day of the ceremony quickly approached, and the excitement in all was palpable. However, she was late in getting to the temple, and that raised some eyebrows. After the second set of temple bells went off everyone there went searching, but they didn’t have to go far. They found her body in an alleyway dressed for the big day. Nobunaga And Hideyoshi tried to keep him from moving closer as it was plain to see she was already gone. Her lifeless body had been slashed and posed for a message to whom it was not clear, and that is the day he stopped smiling genuinely. Everyone saw the immediate change in him and the long-lasting effects would soon become clear. He would learn to drink too much, he could lie with the best of them, and instead of the light she had with her, he would become a creature of the darkness.

Modern day 2010

She always knew she was slightly different than her friends. She saw things completely different then they did. She became emotional in antique stores, and no one could figure out why. Her parents said often she would say things that didn’t make any sense when she was young, and she had a make-believe friend whom she called Mitsu. She couldn’t remember but always got a warm feeling when the stories were brought up at family get-togethers. Somehow the stories were comforting, and she had a longing deep that she couldn’t explain. It happened mostly when she was in school and in history classes when they talked about the unifiers Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu she knew somehow, they were not as the history books portrayed and Mitsuhide Akechi was not an evil man. She was sure of that. Despite how the professor said he was she was shaken to the every time his name was brought up. She hated school because of this, and no one would listen to her. She could be brought to tears in history classes, and no one thought twice of her somewhat odd behaviors.

Modern day 2018

She had just interviewed for her dream job, and they were impressed with her ability and designs. She was hired on the spot to start in two weeks. She had already left her previous job and now had two weeks of vacation time to use before settling into the new position, one she dreamed of since being a teenager. She was excited to begin, but a little vacation would do her good. She decided to go to Kyoto for a few days and just soak up the city. She had always enjoyed that city and the gardens there.

She had checked into the hotel and then set off when the sun is low on the horizon. She found herself in the middle of the city but quickly turned this way and then that until she was face to face with the stone monument. She stood before it and noticed she wasn’t alone. A man who looked too young to be a doctor but some kind of student in graduate school was standing next to her. She noticed his eyes kept flicking over her as she felt the first of the raindrops.

She looked up into the sky which was clear five minutes ago was now cloudy and raining on the two. She was about to turn to run under some awning when a colossal crack happened right in back of the two. Both people turned to look and saw the stone broke in two. Soon darkness was surrounding her, and she felt weightless. She had no idea of the time passing, and she landed with a thud. Her eyes began to burn, and she opened them to a fire.

As she began to stand, she saw a prone body on the ground with a person standing above. In the smoke, she could barely make out the figures, “Hey!” And one bolted through the doors, and she quickly reacted and shook the sleeping man up. This was a new beginning for everyone involved.

She stood outside the burning building confused what happened and where the hell was she? He had looked her over and when she spoke had tilted his head and looked again closer. When the other men began to arrive happy he was alive all stopped and peered at her. Each stopping midsentence as she came into view. When the last man to arrive saw her he stopped. It couldn’t be. She was the same but different. Though a small argument had erupted, all six strange men were staring at her now. She did the only thing she could at that point, run!

She ran like the wind to the edge of the forest, and she could feel their eyes still in her when she cleared into the wooded area. She kept running on a well-worn path and right into a wall of human flesh. She glanced up and saw his scar and didn’t wait for his words she just bolted again. She didn’t stop. She couldn’t. Her mind was trying to process what was going in and couldn’t. She heard a voice call out “Hey!” And two arms wrap around her and tug her down. “Cliff, there idiot!” She glanced over, and sure enough, a cliff with a rather impressive fall was five feet in front of her. She took a deep breath, “thank you.”

“I don’t want your thanks, just be more careful.“, He said as they both stood up and three others appeared silently near him. They started talking to each other when the one who was furthest from her glanced up and stared. “Not again,” she thought to herself however he was different and spoke, “You?”

Which took her by surprise. He quickly made an excuse to get her walking to a nearby village. She didn’t want to go and realized somewhere they were not headed to a village but more in-depth into the forest. “Do you remember me?“, he asked as he pulled down his mask.

“It’s you!“, she said. “What is going on here?”

A half an hour later she knew she was in trouble. She realized everything he said was right and instead of fighting it just accepted it. Somehow she ended up in the past. Not only that but she ended up in a place throughout her life if brought up she would become upset beyond words. She had changed history as well as her traveling companion through time.

Meanwhile back at the site of the burning temple the six men stared at each other as they walked the young woman flee into the night. “Who was that?“, Hideyoshi asked.

Nobunaga shook his head,” She appeared on a balcony and pulled me from the fire.” “Appeared?“, Ieyasu asked.

“Yes from nowhere. She was not there before, and I heard her yell out and footfalls leading away. She must have stopped my would-be assassin.“, Nobunga answered.

“Are we going to ignore the glaring fact?“, Masamune asked. All the men looked at him and shook their heads. Only one spoke.

“It was her.” Mitsuhide said quietly. “She is the same, but not really.”

“We have to go find her.“, Hideyoshi said as he and Masamune jumped on their mounts and took off towards the woods. Nobunaga placed his hand on his ally’s shoulder and gently squeezed. He could not imagine what was going on in Mitsuhide’s mind at the moment. From the minute her body had been found two years prior he had changed, but now she was back, how and why didn’t seem important at the moment.