DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fate/stay night, it's many spin-offs or Drifters. Both are products of Nasu-sensei and Hirano-sensei.
This story is also a spin-off of fellow Fate/Extra author Boyzilla's "Digital Human" series, which includes Digital Extra, Digital Supreme Being, Digital Kaiju and etc., all of which I highly recommend. Especially the second one. All hail Hakuno Kishinami!
War.
It is not so much a conflict as it is a dispute between ideals.
Only when hatred is thrown into the mix, gallons of blood willing to be spilled and the willingness to descend into the depths of depravity and despair can it truly be called a battle.
Hakuno awoke to the smell of smoke. It was burning her nostrils, flooding them and making them itch.
"What is..."
She pulled herself up, shivering from the cold. The small fire that Oda had lit to keep themselves warm had been snuffed out. Rubbing the sand out of her eyes, Hakuno looked for the Japanese men, but found only empty space. Their blankets had been discarded on the floor. Neither Oda's musket or Toyohisa's katana was lying against the wall. Had they left somewhere? If so, where had they gone? Was there an enemy? She pulled herself up and headed out of the castle ruins, only to stop a few meters outside.
There was an reddish-orange haze of light coming to the far end of the forest. Stacks of smoke were piling up and rising into the air like tall gray towers.
Something was burning.
"That's...where the elf village is."
Her stomach dropped. They hadn't raided the village, had they? No, surely not. The Demon King of the Sixth Heaven he may be, Hakuno wanted to believe that Oda wouldn't stoop to this level. Even he had a sense of honor, however skewed it was. And she was sure that Yoichi and Toyohisa weren't evil or desperate enough to learn what was happening in this world. At least, she wanted to think that.
Should she go? Should she see what was happening? Was it even safe?
The hesitation lasted for only a few moments before she went off into the forest, heading towards the burning village. She didn't even know why she was going to the village. On the off chance the three Japanese men lost in time were going psycho, what could she possibly do? She sincerely doubted that she could stop them. They were trained killers. They could easily end him. But on the other hand, if the ones responsible were someone else, she was defenseless. She didn't have any Servants to save her.
So why was she trying to save people she didn't know? She didn't understand it, but...
"I can't die! This can't be happening! I'm only eight god dammit! N-no... No, stop it! Hakuno! Hakuno, please! Ha-"
Her hand itched.
Hakuno ran faster.
"And down! You! Go!"
Toyohisa effortlessly threw the man down to the ground, his arms still wrapped around his neck. Once he had him pinned, he used one knee to keep his arm down and the other wrapped around the arm holding the sword. The blonde bastard didn't expect him to throw his sword just so he could get close enough to do this. Part of him was disappointed he fell for something so obvious. Were he a proper samurai, he would have surely anticipated what he was going to do. Since he didn't have his sword, though, he would have to settle for bashing his face in.
He grabbed his sheathe and raised it overhead. The bastard's eyes widened and started to splutter in foreign tongue. Not that he listened. All he heard was the bleating of a corpse. "Wait! Wait, stop-!"
Toyohisa brought his sheathe down on the bastard. The first strike broke his jaw. The second smashed in his nose. The third caused teeth to go flying. The fourth came down on top of his eye. The fifth pushed the nose in further. The sixth tore off bits of flesh around the mouth. The seventh came down on the bastard's ear. The eighth hit the eye again. The ninth broke a few more teeth. The tenth struck the jaw.
Again and again and again. Toyohisa didn't stop. Everything around him was becoming out of focus. All he cared about was breaking this bastard's face.
After a minute or so of pounding, Toyohisa stopped. The bastard's face was no longer that of a human. His eye was consumed by swollen flesh. His mouth was bloody, teeth broken and in pieces. Large red lumps marred his face. What used to be the face of a handsome man was now that of a bruised and demolished man, no longer fit to be human. He rolled his neck, pushing out the kinks. He pulled himself off the bastard and glared down on him. He was in no condition to move, not when he was in so much agony.
In a few seconds, he would be wishing that he used his sword to kill him.
Hakuno arrived shortly afterwards, panting and covered in sweat. "Look what the cat dragged in." Oda mused from atop his perch, sitting on top of one of the elves' houses. She looked up at him, eyes watery and irritated from all the smoke. "You were sleeping like a babe back at the castle."
"Oda..." she swallowed. "What's going on?"
"Oh, you know. Taking over the village and all that." At her stupefied look, he laughed. "Oh, we didn't attack the village if that's what your thinking. Though we did set fire to their wheat. Take away a man's dignity and his stomach, and you back him in a corner! And when a man is pushed into a corner, he gets mighty dangerous. Just take a look at what Toyohisa's up to."
Hakuno looked back at the Shimazu soldier. He had retrieved his katana and approached an elderly elf, who was cradling the body of she assumed was his son. There was a bloody red stain where the heart was, his eyes were glazed over and there was blood dribbling out of his mouth. The father was openly sobbing, too overwhelmed in grief to notice Toyohisa approaching. When he did notice the Drifter, he stabbed his sword into the ground in front of him. He locked eyes with the elf, then pointed to the broken form of the soldier, still lying on the ground in a weakened, agonizing heap.
"Kill him."
The elf's eyes widened. The others were similarly stunned. It was obvious to Hakuno that they didn't understand Japanese, but the meaning behind Toyohisa's actions was not lost to them. They understood what he was telling them. Even so, the elderly man could only shake his head, too terrified at the idea of fighting back. She understood why. If they killed this man, they would surely be targeted by the owner of these lands.
"He has to die!" Toyohisa growled. "By your hand!"
Hakuno moved to stop Toyohisa. This was too much. They were still in shock. She understood the need for vengeance, but this was not the time to be inciting such feelings! Not when they were mourning their losses. A slender hand stopped her. "Hold on a moment." Yoichi, who had just appeared, told her with a strange smile. "Let's see where this goes."
"And where the hell have you been?" Oda asked pointedly.
The archer shrugged. "Oh, you know. Hunting down the stragglers. It seems some had the sense to flee when Toyohisa showed up. Don't worry." The smile turned twisted. "I made sure they had a fine send off."
Hakuno stared at him, disturbed and off-put. Such a beautiful face, and yet he grinned like a demon. Oda laughed. "Toyohisa scares his foes shitless when he shows himself, but you? Your foes don't see you coming!" He calmed his laughter and looked back at the scene unfolding before them. "Just watch for now, Kishinami. This should be quite interesting to see."
The brunette frowned. Even if she did try to stop Toyohisa, she doubted she had any actual means to do so. Reluctantly, she stood back and watched.
"Your son is dead!" Toyohisa pointed at the corpse of the child in the father's arms. "As a father, it should be your duty to avenge him! That man has to die, by your hand! Or will you let this transgression go unpunished and let this man breathe, while your son rots?!"
Though his words were lost to them, they couldn't plead ignorance to the meaning. It was both strange and fascinating, in spite of the language barrier, this one man could incite such burning feelings. A fire was lit inside their hearts. They looked at the beaten soldier, who was now crawling in an attempt to save his own pitiful life. The dead around them demanded vengeance, and he was attempting to escape. Fury filled their beings. Slowly, they reached for anything sharp. Hoes, pitch forks, the fallen swords left behind by the dead soldiers under that man's command.
With trembling hands, the elderly elf grabbed Toyohisa's katana, tears falling from eyes that burned with revenge.
One by one, they surrounded the beaten soldier. Hakuno turned her head away, shutting her eyes. All she heard was the man begging before he let out weak, pained screams and the sound of blades cutting into flesh.
As the tension dissipated from the air, the bodies of the soldiers slain by Toyohisa seemingly disposed of by Oda and the elves burying their dead, Hakuno found herself unsure of her situation. At first, she thought little of her apparent countrymen. They were warriors, yes, but she did not think that they would have any reason to get involved in affairs such as these. After tonight, however, she realized that conflict was engraved into their minds. They were masters of combat, and they would pursue combat however they pleased.
She knew, with certainty, that they did not defend the elf village simply because it was the right thing to do. It was that they defended it to claim it as their own. But what did that mean? Surely, Oda was not so crazy as to instigate some sort of rebellion against the lord of the land?
"If you keep that face, Kishinami, it'll be hard to smile." Oda's teasing voice brought her out of her mind. The man was grinning like a madman, as befitting the title of someone who was called the Mad Fool of Owari. "You should be happy, lass. We saved the elves, and we learned that the lord's men can't fight worth a damn!"
Hakuno stared at Oda. "...you're not planning on starting a rebellion, I hope?"
"That's the plan!"
What?!
"Come on, Kishinami. Think about it." Oda gestured a hand to the elves as they worked on salvaging what little livelihood they had left. "We don't know how we got to these lands or why, but it's clear by those soldier's reactions to us that we're far from the first ones to come here by some odd circumstances. I heard one foot soldier and that captain earlier call us Drifter, or something. Could mean a lot of things, but that's beside the point. Fact is, if they know something about us, we might be able to learn a thing or two. Of course, the problem here is the lord's men. After tonight, they'll be coming to take care of this problem of theirs."
His smile threatened to break his face in half. "And we just so happen to have a group of men, waiting for some payback. It's obvious these elves have been living in hell during their service. What better way to make them snap than this?"
In other words, he had planned this. The burning of the wheat to make them desperate. To push them to the point where they would be willing to take up arms.
Hakuno felt a little sick.
"I don't like this."
"Clearly." the warlord rolled his good eye. "But you shouldn't worry about getting yourself involved. Just let the menfolk do what needs to be done. Besides, think about it like this! If we usurp the lord, we might be able to learn why we were brought to these lands, and maybe, a way to return home." He paused, then glanced at Toyohisa, who was helping the elves bury their dead. "And maybe..."
"Oda?"
"No, nothing." He waved a hand. "At any rate, for now, let's worry about the aftermath of all this. And more importantly, our peeping tom."
"Peeping...tom?"
Yoichi smiled in amusement. "I've noticed for a while that someone has been spying on us. A woman of the same ilk as the soldiers, but dressed in white. She's kept her distance, so she may be spying on us. She's been observing us since we first arrived, I wager."
"She could be a spy or something." Oda suggested, rubbing his chin. "Of course, the only way to find out is to get the truth from her." He turned his head to the Shimazu. "Hey, Toyohisa! Come on, we got a peeping tom to spank!"
As it turned out, Hakuno had been wrong in her assumption that these men, and herself, were lost in time.
The "peeping tom" they captured, Olminu, had explained, both in rapid fire desperation when faced with the threat of being tortured by Oda or Toyohisa slicing off her head and more calmly the second time around, that they were "Drifters." People who came from another world for some sort of purpose, meant to combat the "Ends," other travelers from the same world as they, but they had abandoned their humanity and sought to obliterate humanity.
Though her knowledge of historical events was limited, Hakuno knew with certainty that the existence of other worlds was indeed a fact. Mages even knew the existence of these worlds thanks to the holder of the Second True Magic. However, based on what Olminu had told them, this was most certainly not the work of Second Magic. No, this was something else.
For the life of her, however, she didn't know what it could be.
"...what a load of shit." Toyohisa huffed. Olminu panicked, sweat pouring profusely down her face like a waterfall. "I'd sooner believe this time travel nonsense than this drivel of being from another world!"
"B-b-but I'm telling the truth!" she cried. "I swear I am! Please don't take off my head!"
Hakuno sighed. "Miss Olminu, calm down." she asked. "We aren't going to kill you."
"You won't, at least." Yoichi remarked. "We can't promise the same, though~"
"Yoichi-san, please don't make the situation worse." Hakuno grimaced. "Anyway, Miss Olminu... What makes you think we're Drifters? Aside from us speaking a different tongue and dressed differently."
Olminu stared at Hakuno. The girl was different from the rugged men around her, which she was thankful for. Maybe she was the only sane person among them? "Well... There's your demeanor, for one." she pointed out. "This world has its fair share of warriors, but the Drifters... They're of another sort. Some use weapons this world has never seen before, like that rifle Oda has." She gestured to the item in question. Oda, now interested, leaned in. "And you would be hard pressed to find someone like Toyohisa, someone who'd throw himself recklessly into the fray and risk losing a limb, just to claim someone's head."
"She's got you there." Oda grinned at the Shimazu, who huffed and turned his head away. "Alright then, Big Boobs-"
"It's Olminu!" the girl cried. Her chest bounced rather blatantly in response to her movement. Hakuno tried her best not to look.
"Whatever! Say we do believe this business about Drifters and Ends, and that we do go along with this whole 'uniting all Drifters together' to defeat these Ends... How are you going to do that? You lot must have a plan, right?"
"W-well, we would first tell the lords to give authority of their armies to the Drifters, a-and then have the Drifters lead them into combat..."
Hakuno shook her head. "That wouldn't work." she said, surprising Olminu. "They would never listen to you."
"Indeed not." Yoichi agreed with the brunette. "We've yet to meet the lords of these lands, but if they are anything like the daimyo of our homeland, they would sooner slit their own bellies than allow men they do not know to lead their armies."
"Couldn't have said it better myself." Oda chuckled. "So long as he has his title, he has men. So long as he has his men, he has a title. Both of these things are what makes a man a 'lord' in the first place. You can't have one without the other. Like Yoichi said, a lord would rather drop dead than hand over his men to a bunch of strangers."
"T-then what would you suggest?!" Olminu challenged.
Hakuno winced. She already knew Oda's answer long before his response left his lips. "We take over the land, of course!" he smiled like the devil himself. Olminu's eyes shrank and stared at the man as if he were insane. "We usurp the lords one by one, liberating the elves one by one and anyone else shackled by this Orta Empire! And Toyohisa will lead our army!"
She blinked. Toyohisa stared at Oda for a moment before he roared. "The hell does that mean?!"
Hakuno could only sigh as she hanged her head low. Something told her that she was going to be wishing she let the Moon Cell delete her...
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A little bit lacking on the action side, but good news. Either next chapter or chapter after next, the Servants will be summoned!
Most of this chapter was just to focus on Hakuno's reaction to learning exactly what kind of people the Drifters are. And whether or not their mentality will affect her in due time.
To be honest, though, most of this chapter just feels rushed. I'll do better next time.
REVIEWS
Boyzilla: Thanks for the advice. And yeah, I figured it would be a nice touch for Hakuno to have some medical skills. Would certainly help them out a lot, especially since she would know some advanced medical techniques. That said, she would be lacking in the proper tools.
Dxhologram: Okita would have information, yes, but the problem lies more with her own personal feelings. She would know that Toyohisa is from before her time, and she'd understand that he was, in no way responsible, for the death of her comrades. It doesn't change the fact that he is a Shimazu, though. Make no mistake, she knows and understands that Toyohisa wasn't involved, but she can't really forgive the Shimazu. Time will tell if she and Toyohisa can bridge the gap. Regarding the mistake, thank you for pointing it out.
tormeric246: Their dynamic would be interesting...especially since Chacha would have quite a bit to talk about her Oda with Drifter!Oda.
guisniperman: I suspect they'll be mimicking Joseph Joestar and go, "OHHHHH MYYYYY GOOOOOOOD!"
ultima-owner: That's putting it mildly.
Doortolight47: Indeed it would, and the situation with End!Hijikata isn't much better. For Hakuno, I'd wager she would help bring out the best in the Drifters and willingly help people. Of course, it's gonna take a lot of work for that to happen.
Guest (Perry): It's gonna do a number on her, that's for sure.
AmanoRyo: It wasn't that kind of relationship (though I do ship them). It was like captain and subordinate. Okita deeply respected Hijikata. And when she meets his End counterpart... Oof.
Guest (Garrick): Well, we have the Church of Hakuno Kishinami. Might as well throw in the Samurai of Hakuno Kishinami XD
Guest (Student): First of all, I miss you reviewing my stories. Secondly, not even Toyohisa can endure EX Rank Head Tilt! As for the summoning, it will take place when the Japanese Drifters prepare for the lord's counterattack on the elf village.
Daemon of Crawling Tentacles: ...that is a terrifying image. And yet also somehow adorable. HOW.
Guest (Meiji): I had almost forgotten about that detail... Huh. Guess this means Fate!Hijikata and End!Hijikata can go at it after all.
Guest (Boron): "God dammit! One kabuki was bad enough! Actually, I don't know which one is worse! What the hell was that girl thinking, summoning that maniac?!"
Guest (Kenshi): There will be an omake of Musashi, as well as one of Chacha. And other Servants if people request them a lot.
