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. 22 START

At Kojiro's stunned expression, Nobunaga let out a hearty laugh, saying, "How could I not? The girl did well above anything I could have reasonably expected from her, so I couldn't just let her go unawarded for her efforts. You should have seen it, Kojiro, the way she swept in from the forests, somehow directly behind Motochika's forces! The looks on their faces as they realized that they'd been cornered! I'd never tasted anything so sweet! She saved the army, with those maneuvers of hers."

Kojiro raised an eyebrow, saying, "Really now! What did you teach her while on the way to Ichinomiya?"

Nobunaga just smiled widely. There was a complete lack of malice in that gaze, nor was there any distrust or guile. From Nobunaga's perspective, she'd done absolutely nothing wrong, and from a certain perspective, she really hadn't. But what she'd done by adopting Suzue had implications for the future of their relationship that Kojiro didn't particularly like. See, from Nobunaga's point of view, all she was doing was giving an appropriate reward for services rendered. It was standard practice and helped to maintain loyalty among subordinates, but the issue was that Kojiro wasn't a subordinate. He risked their relationship shifting from 'friends' to 'trusted ally,' and while they seemed similar enough, being an ally wasn't what Kojiro wanted out of his relationship with Nobunaga.

Aloud, he spoke to her, saying, "Nobunaga. I need to talk with you privately."

Suzue must've seen something in the lines of his face, and that something must have alerted her, as perceptive as she was, because immediately, she spoke, whispering, "Sasaki-sama, if you don't like me being adopted by Oda-sama, I can ask-!"

Kojiro shook his head, silencing her next words before they came out of her throat.

He shot her a glance that promised an explanation, and said quietly, "Later, Suzue. Don't worry, you've done nothing wrong."

"Nobunaga?" he repeated, and she turned to him with a relaxed smile.

Rather eagerly, she turned away from a soldier who was giving her a report, dismissing the man casually. She walked towards him, not seeming to notice anything wrong with his expression, but from the way that Hideyoshi was glancing nervously at them, despite the man talking to some soldiers as well, he'd caught on to something. Nobunaga walked in front of him, leading the way into the nearby forest, so Kojiro took the chance to shake his head slightly. Hideyoshi caught the head movement, and stopped, a conflicted expression appearing briefly on his face. Then, he nodded, waving Kojiro off.

Nobunaga was speaking rapidly as they began to move away from the others, saying, "Hey, Kojiro, doesn't this make things work out perfectly? Since Suzue's your apprentice and you're her master, given that I've adopted her, I've basically made you part of the Oda Clan. Plus, Suzue gets status from the adoption too! Everyone's happy. Do you-?

Kojiro let her ramble, before stopping her by clearing his throat. Nobunaga finally looked at him, and noticed his expression.

Concern filled her face as she asked, ""What's wrong with you, Kojiro? You look worried. What's happened?"

She stepped forward, inspecting him.

Kojiro felt terrible, given how earnest Nobunaga was being, but in spite of his own feelings, he asked, "Nobunga, I wanted to ask. Do you trust me? As a friend, I mean."

Confused, the woman responded instantly with a confused chuckle, saying, "Of course, I

do! I owe you my life. Why wouldn't I? Why even ask that?"

"I asked because I'm not sure you really do." Kojiro answered.

A look of bafflement, then pain, then hurt, flashed across Nobunaga's eyes, and her voice cracked, as she spoke, "Kojiro! Why would you even…? How could you-!"

He interrupted her in a harsher tone of voice than he'd intended, needing to get his point across, "Nobunaga. Look at me."

She did, bewildered eyes focusing on his own.

"That's not what I meant." he stated.

Angrily, she said, "Then what-?!"

Kojiro interrupted her again, saying, "I don't mean trust, as in a military ally, Nobunaga, but as a friend. If you really did trust me, the words of the promise we made should have been enough for you. There was no need to try to bind me to the Oda Clan by adopting Suzue."

His words seemed to strike her heart, and she stuttered out her next words, "No! K-Kojiro, I didn't mean it like that at all! I just wanted to-!"

Kojiro grabbed her by the shoulders, and she fell silent, looking at him with a pleading expression.

"I know," he spoke, "that's why we're having this conversation right now. Nobunaga, I have no wish for our relationship to devolve into you wondering how best to reward me or Suzue, should we aid you in battle. I have no wish for you to give me power, if it would make you begin to look at me with paranoia, fearing I'd use that influence to harm you. That's not what I want from this. That's not friendship, understand? True, friendship is how your men go and die on the battlefields, assured that the man next to them will not cut and run the moment his life is threatened. True friendship is how those same men die for each other without thought, not how daimyo and nobles build alliances. Did we not swear a vow, with the blood in our very veins, to be such friends? Can you not see why I am concerned, Nobunaga, when you seek to treat me like this?"

"I…!" Nobunaga began, but the words she wanted to speak didn't come out; Nobunaga wilted, finally saying, "Yes. I…understand. Do you want me to take back Suzue's adoption?"

Kojiro denied the offer outright, saying, "No. It's far too late for that. What's been done can't be taken back so easily. Making you dishonor both yourself and Suzue by forcing you to withdraw the adoption would make me a poor friend and mentor indeed."

Nobunaga bowed her head, whispering quietly, "Thank you."

Kojiro shook his head, saying, "There's no need for you to thank me. In this life, there are only three people that I would be willing to bleed for, and one is already dead. Only you and Suzue remain, Nobunaga."

"Who's the last one?" Nobunaga asked, and despite the sore subject matter, Kojiro was willing to answer.

"My father, Toda Seigen. Well, adopted father, if I want to be technical about it, but my birth parents left me to die in the middle of winter. The old man treated me far too well, for a child that he decided to pick up off the street." Kojiro explained.

At his words, Nobunaga tensed, before she turned to look him in the eyes. There was a bit of worry in her eyes, and that puzzled him, before Kojiro remembered that there had been a bit of bad blood between his father and Nobunaga in their younger years. He spoke up,

Kojiro pulled Nobunaga into a sideways hug, and said, "By the time he died, my father held hatred for no one, not the Azai who killed his clan, not the Asakura who forced his children into their armies, not for you, whose armies killed his sons."

Nobunaga winced, but Kojiro kept talking, "By the time my father died, he was a tired man. Said that he'd done everything he could possibly have wanted to do and that there was nothing left for him to do in all the whole world. If he had had the will to, my father could have easily lived another ten years. When I met you, you looked far too much like him. That's why I befriended you, not for some sort of nefarious grand plan."

Nobunaga relaxed, and her shoulder untensed. She opened her mouth to apologize for the suspicion, but thought better of it.

"Got it. No apologies, right?" she said, "Still, I want to swear that whatever happens to my clan, Suzue will remain untouched by Oda politics. The Oda name will only benefit her."

"That's good," Kojiro answered simply.

Silence filled the space around them, but it wasn't an awkward sort of quiet. Rather, it was a casual and comfortable one. Peaceful, even. In the distance, through the trees, Kojiro could see the soldiers begin to set up their encampments around the castle, wherever there was open space. Hideyoshi and Suzue had vanished some time ago, before the sky had begun to darken, likely stepping into the confines of the castle. Over the course of their conversation, Kojiro and Nobunaga had found themselves sitting on the ground, with their backs against a tree. Nobunaga had sat down first, and after a moment's consideration, sat down right next to her. They waited there, listening to the noises of the forest, until Nobunaga yawned.

Kojiro was the first to break the silence, saying, "It's getting rather late."

Nobunaga agreed with him, yet neither of them made to return to the castle. Eventually, Nobunaga yawned again, and this time, Kojiro did too. He laughed lightly, before shifting positions, and pulling off of his kimono. He laid it across his thighs, before positioning himself and adjusting Nobunaga so that her head fell nicely into his lap. She lay there quietly, eyes closed, before she opened them to study his face.

"I always forget how young you are, whenever I talk to you like this," Nobunaga admitted.

Kojir shrugged, saying, "I've always felt older than my years on Earth would suggest."

Her eyes shut again, and when she spoke next, it was in a distant sort of tone, filled with idle curiosity.

"Hey, Kojiro?" she voiced.

He hummed to show he was listening, and Nobunaga asked, "What do you want to do after this is all over?"

"Do you mean this campaign," Kojiro asked, "or this entire conquest thing?"

Nobunaga snickered, clarifying, "Either or. Both. Take your pick."

"After this campaign, if you have no military plans," Kojiro verbalized, "then I'll probably head back to Ichijodani for a little while. Introduce Suzue to the rest of the Toda Dojo, I suppose. Maybe I'll blow money on food. I can only handle so much jerky and porridge. As for after, hmm. Maybe I'll just wander about the place, fighting whoever would be willing to fight me. I've always wanted to be called a kensei. Sword Saint! A title like that is almost as good as Demon King, no?"

Nobunaga made a noise of consideration in her throat, then smirked and said, "Not quite. Demon King's a step above, I think."

She continued after a small silence, asking, "Do you think the Toda Dojo would mind terribly if I decided to go with you to Ichijodani? I wanted to pay my respects to Seigen. He was a brave man, and his children were talented warriors. I, ah, saw the letter that was sent out."

Kojiro took a moment to consider, before saying slowly, "No. I honestly don't think it'll be a problem. You're welcome to come with me. Just as long as you don't bring too large an army this time, alright? I fear you may give my uncle a heart attack."

Nobunaga nodded happily, before she snapped her fingers in faux disappointment, joking, "Dang. There go my plans to ransack Ichijodani. "

Kojiro laughed, then chose to ask, "And your plans for after the conquest?"

Nobunaga fell silent for a moment, deep in contemplation.

"I realized something, Kojiro, when you told me about your father. I'm not tired of life, I'm just getting tired of war. I've fought and fought my entire life, since I was young, and to this day, I'm still fighting. This is no way to live. Once we've conquered the country, Kojiro, I think I'll finally put the rest of my samurai knowledge to use and figure out how to properly rule."

"That's a good plan," Kojiro offered, "but first, we've got to finish conquering the country. There's not much left now. The only forces on the Island of Kyushu against us are the Shimazu Clan, and we outnumber them five-to-one. A strongly worded letter might just convince them to surrender, once they hear about what's happened here. They might even offer the land up, so they don't get destroyed. After them, all that remains will be the clans of the northern Honshu region. They cannot have many soldiers, given how mountainous those regions are."

Nobunaga took a deep breath, before letting it out and declaring, "You're right. Shimizu will be a breeze. Even with the terrain advantage, northern Honshu will struggle. Victory seems so close, Kojiro, so very close."

With those words, Nobunaga seemed to drift off to sleep, aided on her journey to slumber by Kojiro running his hands through her hair. They stayed there for the rest of the night. Kojiro remained awake for just long enough for the stars to come out, before he too, fell asleep. The last thing he thought was how to explain this situation to deal with the rumors that would erupt from this incident.

A/N:

Nobunaga x Kojiro, anyone? Also, to date, I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who's ever suggested the pairing. Couldn't find any fanart. Who knows, maybe this story will make the ship a reality. Wink wink. Hint hint. :)