Turning Swallow
Summary:
OR, One morning, four-year-old Sasaki Kojiro remembers a life not yet lived, and decides to do something about it. History changes. SI!Sasaki Kojiro. Expect general lightheartedness, but dark topics when the time comes.
CH. 18 START
Though Kojiro had given Nobunaga an estimate of five years before she could finish with conquering the country, and the warlord may have taken that estimate in jest, Kojiro knew that the estimate was absolutely true. Given what Kojiro knew of Japan's yet to be history, after Nobunaga had died, the once unified army under her banner had shattered into several factions. With both Oda Nobunaga herself dead, as well as her obvious heir, Oda Nobutada, having been assassinated by Mitsuhide in the original history, there had been a power vacuum that needed to be urgently filled. The factions formerly unified under Nobunaga's banner met at Kiyosu to decide who'd be in charge, but both of Nobunaga's other children, Oda Nobukatsu and Oda Nobutaka had fought for control over the overall group, each unwilling to give up power. Hideyoshi had taken one glance at the whole mess, and promptly decided that he didn't want to support either one of the two arguing idiots, championing Nobunaga's grandson, Hidenobu, to become lord of the Oda clan. Given that Hidenobu was merely an infant, that left Hideyoshi in charge of the Oda Clan, with the support of some Oda elders. Obviously, Nobunaga's two actual children had disagreed with that, and decided to wage war on Hideyoshi. After three years of constant conflict with Nobunaga's two children, Hideyoshi dealt with them and consolidated power, before taking over Japan using his new military strength.
None of that was going to happen here. First of all, Nobunaga was very clearly alive, so there wouldn't be a succession crisis at all in the first place. Secondly, without the need to consolidate power from when it had been fractured by Nobunaga's death, the next seven years of Hideyoshi's original battles could be completed in far fewer years and far more efficiently. Right now, Nobunaga was packing up after having received an urgent letter from Hideyoshi, asking for reinforcements. It was the second such letter; Nobunaga had received one a month ago, which was the entire reason she'd been staying in Honno-ji in the first place, to join Mitsuhide in traveling to support Hideyoshi. Kojiro approached Nobunaga with a serious expression on his face, and Nobunaga's greeting smile seemed to fade as the woman saw how serious he was being.
"Kojiro," Nobunaga asked, "what's wrong?"
He replied, "I wanted to talk. It concerns our relationship."
Haltingly, Nobunaga asked, "Relationship?"
Kojiro nodded, "Yes. I may have fought alongside you in battle, but I have no intention of lowering myself to being your subordinate."
The warlord seemed to wilt, before she asked in a small voice, "But you wanted to see me conquer Japan?"
Kojiro backed up a few steps mentally.
"And I will," he said, "but I will not do so as a soldier would a general. Rather, I would ask to be allowed to accompany you as a friend would another friend."
War was in Nobunaga's blood. She knew there was no such thing as true friendship on the battlefield, only allies, but those could betray, like Akechi Mitsuhide had so effectively proven. People could betray one another for the benefit of money, promised status, or land. Since Kojiro wanted to get Nobunaga firmly on his side, he first needed to differentiate himself from the rest. The first step was clearly separating himself from the army. He was Nobunaga's friend because of her, not her ally due to working for her.
Kojiro explained, "I'm a free spirit, Nobunaga, and I would rather not join your army. Yet, I wish to see the end of your journey. Thus, my offer."
Nobunaga stared at him and inspected him again, before she nodded, saying, "That's…fine. Very well, Kojiro. Let us be friends."
Kojiro nodded, before asking for Nobunaga's sword. She handed it to him with narrowed eyes, but he kept moving. From her blade's sheath, he pulled out her sword, a katana slightly longer than average with a hilt wrapped in red cloth and steel that gleamed somewhat red in the daylight. Kojiro brought up the sword, looked at it, and very carefully sliced his fingers on it, making sure not to cut too deeply. The blade cut skin easily, but Kojiro ensured that the cuts were extremely shallow. With the bleeding fingers, he dragged the blood along the blade, before using a clean cloth to wrap up the cut fingers. He'd have to take extra care to avoid infection until they healed, but the message was worth it. The blood left a clear streak on the steel. Kojiro wiped the blade clean with a cloth he'd gotten specifically for this purpose, and resheathed her blade.
Kojiro muttered lowly, but loud enough for Nobunaga to hear him, saying, "Should I break this vow, may this blade seek my blood."
He returned the blade to Nobunaga, who took it with some reverence. The woman reached out for his sword, and he handed it to her. She took it, before she unsheathed his sword as he had hers. Nobunaga placed her fingers on his sword, Kojiro making certain Nobunaga only cut her fingers shallowly, before anointing his sword with her own blood. The blood was in sharp opposition to the darkly-colored steel. He quickly wrapped up Nobunaga's hand to prevent the injury from getting too much exposure.
She spoke the same words he had, muttering, "Should I break this vow, may this blade seek my blood."
She wiped his sword off before returning it to him.
Kojiro gave the moment an appropriate amount of veneration, before smirking at her, saying. "Now you'll never be rid of me."
Nobunaga grinned back at him, answering, "You stole the words from my mouth, Kojiro. My…friend."
Kojiro turned with a soft smile, excusing himself with the words, "I need to check on Suzue. We leave soon, yes?"
Nobunaga nodded, and as Kojiro walked away from where Nobunaga had been standing, Suzue fell in line with him. The girl walked beside him, a confidence in her step that hadn't been there before. The week of sparring with the soldiers of the camp had done her some good, Kojiro realized. While it was good for her to spar against him, that didn't give her any sense of progress. She was always losing, so couldn't tell how much she was improving. Kojiro would still have to bring her back down to earth, but the self-assurance did her some good.
He spoke to Suzue, patting her on the shoulder, saying, "It seems your efforts have proven themselves fruitful, no?"
At her nod and smile, he smiled back, adding onto his previous statement by telling her, "I'm glad to see how far you've come. Make sure you acknowledge that too."
The two of them spoke idly, before they mounted the horses that Nobunaga had provided to them and joined her at the head of the army. He greeted his new friend with a nod, before focusing on the journey ahead. Suzue and Nobunaga seemed to be getting along well too, given how animatedly they spoke. Currently, they were seeking to bring the army down to Osaka City, in order to requisition some supplies for cheap. The journey to the port city proved smooth, and after resting for a day on the outskirts, they continued on to the port city of Kobe, and followed the coastline to the small town of Akashi. That portion of the trip took roughly another week. Had Kojiro made the trek himself, focused only on speed, he could have raced from Kyoto to Akashi in maybe five days, if he had a good horse and a good map. Given the lack of formal roads, or poorly maintained ones, traveling with the army was slow.
From the coast of Akashi, they needed to create boats in order to make their way across the fairly lengthy stretch of water that separated Awaji Island from the largest Japanese island of Honshu. Given that there was no bridge in place, the army had to build boats, which took roughly two days. Transporting twenty thousand across water was no easy task, but after three days, the job was done. Making enough boats had taken two days, but the boats would remain useful, given that they had to use them again to get onto Shikoku, the large island where Takamatsu Castle and the Mori forces were. This crossing took the rest of the third day, and by nightfall, Nobunaga's army was camping on Shikoku proper. Nobunaga had sent a messenger to find and locate where Hideyoshi was camping. Kojiro had also had the soldiers pick up the boats and drag them along, and though the men complained, given his status as Nobunaga's 'retainer,' he wasn't disobeyed. Finally, the next morning, the messenger had returned with a group of Hideyoshi's samurai to guide the army to where Hideyoshi's force was.
Though Takamatsu Castle had been held in siege, the situation, apparently, was quite serious. There was word that Mori Terumoto was gathering his men and preparing to pin Hideyoshi's men between the castle and his army, so Hideyoshi had sent for help. With the fact that Takamatsu Castle had already been garrisoned by around sixty thousand men, Hideyoshi's need was urgent. Unable to lose the potential territory, Nobunaga had ordered six armies towards Takamatsu, each of around twenty thousand. Akechi Mitsuhide was originally meant to have been one of these reinforcements, but he had chosen to take an opportunity to betray Nobunaga instead. Hideyoshi's request for aid was the very reason that Nobunaga had been at Honno-ji in the first place. In total, the sum of Nobunaga's forces numbered roughly one-hundred and twenty thousand. It was enough to face the other army head on, even before factoring the Oda army tendency to bring guns to sword fights. If needed, there were enough men to break the Siege of Takamatsu Castle with force of arms, before using overwhelming numbers to decimate the garrisoned army. Then, the army could turn on Mori Terumoto's incoming army of forty thousand.
Nobunaga, Kojiro, and Suzue all made their way towards the interior of Hideyoshi's current base, before the three of them entered the tent. Behind them, the two armies worked to integrate fully into a single unit. The tent was rather warm and cozy, with a small desk, a mattress, and table with a war map spread out over it. The rustle of movement woke Hideyoshi from the document he'd been working on.
"Lord Oda," Hideyoshi greeted, "it is good to see you once more."
The man directed a greeting towards Kojiro and Suzue too, acknowledging them with a nod, before asking Nobunaga, "May I ask where Mitsuhide is? I fear we may have need of his advice."
Nobunaga spoke flatly, "Hideyoshi, Akechi Mitsuhide is a traitor. Sasaki Kojiro has aided me in slaying him and reclaiming the army. He is a friend. Suzue is his apprentice."
The words clearly took Hideyoshi by surprise, given how his mouth dropped open. The man looked at the two of them, before glancing to the side, perhaps questioning how they'd managed to kill Mitsuhide, then bring his former army all the way here by themselves without getting backstabbed again.
Eventually, he gathered himself enough to say, "Good riddance, then. I am glad that you've survived the traitor's attempts. My thanks to the two of you, Sasaki-san and Suzue-san, for aiding the lord."
Nobunaga nodded letting Hideyoshi finish before starting, "You've done well to hold the siege, despite the circumstance. What's the situation?"
The man nodded in appreciation, before looking at Nobunaga and explaining, "We're unable to break the castle. It's too well defended."
Nobunaga and Hideyoshi huddled over the map, discussing possible approaches until Kojiro spoke up.
"Nobunaga, the army will be decimated if you force them to meet the Mori army in battle. Twenty thousand is not enough of an advantage, given the army garrisoning Takamatsu Castle. If you get pinned, the army is damned."
Nobunaga nodded, accepting his words, but asked, "What can be done then, my friend?"
Kojiro answered Nobunaga, "I have a way to break the Castle in three weeks with minimal casualties, should the terrain be advantageous."
Nobunaga sucked in a breath. The implication of what he was offering was immense, Kojiro knew. If they were able to destroy the army in Takamatsu Castle, the incoming army of forty thousand was worthless.
She looked at him, before closing her eyes and sighing her next words, "I trust you, Kojiro. Do what you need to, my friend. The army and its resources are yours to utilize. All of it. Please don't make me regret this."
Kojiro nodded firmly, "I won't."
Hideyoshi watched the byplay with a neutral expression, before looking at Kojiro and saying, "Lord Oda trusts you, so I will too."
That was as close to approval as he was going to get from Hideyoshi.
Kojiro stood up from where he'd been sitting, exchanged nods with Hideyoshi and Nobunaga, before stepping out of the tent, followed by Suzue.
"Come, Suzue. Let's figure out how to drown a castle."
