Song of the Beloved

Description: A look at the fictional relationship between Akechi Mitsuhide and Mori Ranmaru as presented in SW, told from Ranmaru's POV as he guards Nobunaga at Honnoji. Rated T for violence and references to the shudo tradition.

Disclaimer: Samurai Warriors and its characters are the property of KOEI.

Chapter One: Destiny at the Scaean Gate

My feet echo dully on the wooden floor as I leave my lord's chamber. His final orders pull heavily on my mind, drowning out all other sounds around me. Somewhere beyond the reach of my thoughts, my ears can hear the shouts and screams of the terrified household. Lost souls, every one of us.

So be it.

I look up to see I am near my destination: the south gate. A guard stands beside it, watching my approach. The other must have fled. The eyes of the remaining man radiate his fear, clearly visible in the half-light. I cannot blame him or the one who ran. We are all afraid.

Off to my left, a small group of women hurry towards the back rooms. I pay them no mind until one calls out my name.

"Ranmaru!"

I turn to see Lady Oichi running to me, the other women trailing after her, worried by the delay.

"My lady, you must --"

"Is it true, Ranmaru?" she interrupts me. Her young and pretty face searches mine, demanding it for answers. "They say Lord Mitsuhide has rebelled and is bringing an army here. Is it true?"

I breathe in slowly before answering, "It is true, my lady." She bites her lip in distress, and her bright eyes move past me to the gate, staring through it as if seeing the soldiers in the distance.

An idea comes to me, and I say, "Lady Oichi, please, could you try to persuade your brother to flee? He refused when I suggested it, but if you and Lady Kicho were to add your requests, then perhaps …"

"Yes. Yes I will." But her manner is distracted, her eyes still beyond the gate. A serving woman plucks at her sleeve and murmurs to her, and Lady Oichi's eyes clear. She turns them to me, and I can see the wetness in them, tears threatening to fall.

"Ranmaru, I must know. Will you … ? You won't …"

The implied question shoots through me, leaving a stabbing pain in my heart. I drop to one knee before her.

"My lady, I will fight to defend you and my lord until the soil of Honnoji has accepted the last drop of my blood. I swear no man shall enter this gate while I still live."

"The gate," she echoes in a whisper. As I stand and walk forward to my post, she calls to me, "You're going to defend the south gate alone?"

I pause before the guard and hold his gaze, trying to pass some of my own courage to the other man. "Close and bar the gate behind me. Then take Lady Oichi to our lord's quarters."

Not waiting to see him nod in acknowledgment, I step through the opening into the courtyard. As the gate closes behind me, I can hear Lady Oichi crying out my name. Her voice cracks in horror and sadness.

"My life is expendable, my lady," I tell the memory of her face in my mind. "So it has always been, and so I have always known."

"Mino will fall, Ranmaru."

I looked up from my meditation to find my friend Lord Mitsuhide standing before me. "Tonight, tomorrow, it does not matter. It will fall all the same."

Confused, I gazed up at him from my place on the floor. He had come to visit me in full armor, his sword hanging by his side. His handsome face held a distracted expression, and he stared out my window into the dark night.

I realized, after a moment, that he planned to say no more, so I responded, "I don't understand, my lord. Surely Inabayama can outlast a siege."

The sound of my voice snapped him from his thoughts, and he smiled at me with a hint of embarrassment, almost as if he had just noticed I was there. "Normally I would agree with you," he returned. "But Nobunaga is no ordinary enemy."

Lord Mitsuhide's eyes clouded again, and he walked over to the window which had seemed to capture all his attention. The soft night wind ruffled his long hair as he stood there, gazing out into the darkness. To me, or perhaps to no one, he said, "The Demon Lord is unlike any other I have seen. I do not think this battle will be long enough to hinge on the outcome of a siege."

His words and his manner filled me with apprehension. I stood and joined him at the window. I could see the campfires of the Oda army across the hills, and when the clouds released their grip on the moon, I could just barely make out the enemy's flags, thousands of them, all in perfect array.

"My lord," I asked in a voice low enough that only we could hear, "are you going to defect?"

He paused just slightly too long before answering, "No. Of course not." His voice dropped and his eyes followed, finding a spot of interest on the window ledge. "Not … defect."

Not entirely understanding, I let the silence thicken between us. My mind raced with my own thoughts of Oda Nobunaga. Ever since his small force had met Imagawa Yoshimoto's much larger army at Dengakuhazama Gorge and, through a mixture of courage and trickery, won, he had occupied a prominent place in my mind, as if his promise and talent demanded to be studied and considered.

At my side, Lord Mitsuhide had shifted slightly to look at me. I could tell that, in his quiet way, he knew I had something on my mind. His eyes offered encouragement without pressure, and they showed no trace of his previous detachment.

"Lord Nobunaga," I began, hesitatingly, "I'm not sure why … but I think that he could unite our land." I closed my eyes and saw in my mind a great rainstorm, a castle in flames, and hidden in the dark, a band of soldiers led by a man without fear. "It is … just a feeling. I cannot describe why I have it. Only that it is there."

Soft fingers touched my chin. Surprised, I stepped backwards, feeling them sliding along my skin and off my face. My eyes flew open in time to see a strange emotion flicker over Lord Mitsuhide's face before he turned it to the window once more. Was it disappointment? My heart contracted in regret at my involuntary reaction to his touch. He almost never offered me physical contact, not even a hand to help me to my feet after he had yet again beaten me during training. I wanted to reach out to him, to tell him that it had been shock, not rejection, that had caused me to pull away. But I knew such words were beyond my place, so I held my tongue.

Lord Mitsuhide turned back to me with a forced chuckle and a smile designed to banish the awkward moment that had just occurred. He chose to respond to my small speech by saying, "Then fight him, Ranmaru, with all your power. Fight, and show the Demon your strength. Show him just how valuable a warrior you are."

At his words, I understood. He would not defect, but given the opportunity, he would surrender. And I knew that if he surrendered, I would do the same.

I nodded to him and smiled.

A/N: Lady Kicho is Nouhime. I read that Nouhime translates to "Princess of Mino" so I decided that Ranmaru would call her by her real name instead.

I did a decent amount of research before writing this, and I have thrown in a few historical details here and there for garnish. However, the real life Ranmaru and Mitsuhide were nothing like the characters presented in SW and more than likely never even spoke to each other. Ranmaru was only two years old at the battle of Inabayama, and Mitsuhide was already 40. So, any thoughts of making them more historical have been scrapped in favor of the great potential of this tragic -- albeit fictional -- relationship. It's especially important to me now that it seems that KOEI has abandoned their storyline in SW2 for a more Mitsuhide/Nobunaga angle.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is encouraged!