Chapter Eight: The Budding Beauty's Love (Japanese: 八話: つぼみの恋)[]
On the road, Chifusa and Kaede encounter a man that is enamored with Kaede. The man presents himself as a painter and says that he wants to paint a picture of Kaede.
Flattered, Kaede accepts. However, when she, without Chifusa, meets the painter, he asks her to disrobe. Offended at that, she slaps him on the face and runs away. Once alone, she is then attacked by a pack of Manyuu assassins. In the nick of time, she is protected by the painter who had run after her, then by Chifusa, who disposes of the assassins.
Finally, Kaede allows the painter to draw her half-disrobed, in a suggestive pose. Chifusa and Kaede then continue their journey.