Waiting for Kuniko: A Chance Encounter

By David Kudler

A chance encounter behind enemy lines

A Risuko prequel short story

Mieko is waiting at a rendezvous behind enemy lines. In the rain. Without a hat. The person who comes up the road is the last person she expected to encounter.

Preview:

Mieko wanted to leave.

She was waiting on a worn stone shrine beneath a dripping red pine. Rain was falling, and she had been waiting here, slowly getting wet, since the clouds had sloshed in around midday. She and Kuniko had split, Mieko searching the area on the south side of the valley while Kuniko searched in the village on the north side. They were looking for young Sachi and Hoshi, the two newest kunoichi, who were supposed to have checked in from their mission at dawn.

Mieko wasn’t worried — not really. Kuniko was more than capable of taking care of herself, and Sachi and Hoshi weren’t stupid. Their mission was a fairly simple one: wander up to Tiptown, where the Uesugi commander kept the headquarters for this part of the province, and see if any of the soldiers might let something slip to a couple of pretty girls. It was a mission that Mieko and Kuniko could have done in their sleep — had done more than once — but it seemed like a good, straightforward test for the two younger girls.

The two newly initiated kunoichi.

But they were behind enemy lines, and they hadn’t arrived at the rendezvous at the roadside shrine this morning. And while Mieko had wanted to charge up to Tiptown to make sure the girls were safe, Kuniko had sensibly pointed out that they had probably just lost track of time or gotten turned around. And so she had suggested that they split up and search this part of the valley before heading into the enemy’s stronghold.

They’d agreed to meet up on the main road at this battered old shrine to some nameless forest god. They’d agreed to meet at the hour of the horse — noon, which would give them plenty of daylight to make their way to Tiptown, if they had to. And Mieko had quickly confirmed that no, Sachi and Hoshi weren’t at either of the forest shrines further off the road, nor at any of the farms that dotted the southern side of the valley. And then she’d returned to their meeting point and, as the rain began to fall, she waited.

And waited.

She wanted to leave, but she couldn’t. She was waiting for Kuniko. And Sachi and Hoshi.

Mieko sighed, wiping the drizzle from her eyelashes. She should have worn a hat.

A movement to her left startled her —

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stillpoint/Atalanta
• Release date: Aug 1, 2021

Book preview

Waiting for Kuniko

Kunoichi Companion Tales #2.2

(A Seasons of the Sword Prequel)

by

David Kudler

Stillpoint_Enso_Logo_-_Red

Stillpoint/Atalanta

Waiting for Kuniko:

A Chance Encounter

Stillpoint Digital Press

Mill Valley, California, USA

Copyright © 2021 by David Kudler

All right reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, or other—without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. For more information, contact the publisher at

[e-mail]

First edition, September 2020

Version 1.0 (PublishDrive)

ISBN 978-1-393660-88-0

Risuko news subscribers and Kickstarter backers get exclusive early access to the Kunoichi Companion Tales, a series of exciting prequel stories by Risuko author David Kudler that introduce characters and themes from the Seasons of the Sword novels!

There are at least eight planned stories:

Kunoichi Companion Tales

Kunoichi Companions covers 077-6x9-Book-Series-Presentation-COVERVAULT

White Robes — Mired in her own grief, Lady Mochizuki Chiyome encounters two young women who give her a whole new, much more interesting opportunity (now available!)

Silk & Service — A young Takeda warrior meets a servant who is much more than she seems (now available!)

Waiting for Kuniko — Mieko is waiting at a rendezvous behind enemy lines. In the rain. Without a hat. The person who comes up the road is the last person she expected to encounter.

Wild Mushrooms — A Hōjō commander is delighted when two pretty young shrine maidens enter his camp on the evening before a battle. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been.

Ghost — At a banquet to celebrate a new alliance, Chiyome contemplates murder, and discovers a new servant (now available!)

Schools for Talented Youngsters: Monthly Headmistresses’ Dinner — Three unique ladies get together once a month to share the joys and challenges involved teaching young ladies with very particular… talents. (Historical fantasy/crossover)

Shining Boy — Plucked off of the streets of the capital,