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. 25 START

Kagoshima's burning was now a week past, and as Kojiro stood before the once mighty structure, he let out a small sigh. Not only was the castle itself gone, but the town behind it was too. As it turned out, the people who'd lived in the nearby town had also been Shimazu, so Nobunaga had dealt with them too. Kojiro could come up with a thousand reasons why burning down the town was bad, but at the end of the day, the people of the town could have been a potential threat to Nobunaga in the future, so they had to go. The march back to Kyoto was rather dull, compared to the other marches that Kojiro had participated in. He supposed it was the difference between marching to war and marching home. They met absolutely no resistance, not that they were expecting any. They passed back through the rest of Kyushu without issue, walked through Kobayakawa territory undisturbed, and through Nobunaga's conquered territory untouched by any external threat. Rather, the only threats that Kojiro was worried about would come from within Kyoto, specifically from the royal family of Japan and their Imperial Palace.

When they neared Kyoto, rather than facing the screams of frightened citizens, they were faced by the eager cheers of a welcoming populace, and despite the nerves that Kojiro felt, it was obvious that Ieyasu, Hideyoshi, and Nobunaga had dropped their guards a great deal. The tension present within their movements had vanished and the short, tense exchanges on horseback had blossomed into long conversations. When they arrived at the gates of Kyoto itself, an army of twenty thousand men was welcomed into the city. Nobunaga left the other men beyond the city walls, along with the generals and commanders of those soldiers. The only people with her as she rode towards the Imperial Palace were Kojiro, Ieyasu, and Hideyoshi. Compared to the rest of them, Kojiro must have come off as some sort of page. It probably didn't help that he was riding behind them, holding the rear. The army of soldiers that had come along were ceremonial, and retired to the barracks in the city. The rest would be let in later, given the conversation with the emperor went well.

Before they entered the palace, Kojiro only managed to warn, "Do not drop your guard. We are not safe yet."

The Emperor himself, nominal ruler of all Japan, greeted the four of them personally. In reality, the Emperor was as much of a ruler as the soldiers Kojiro commanded were. Control of the provinces of the country had long rested in the hands of the daimyo and the shogun who ruled them. The only real power the royal family controlled was ceremonial and spiritual, but that didn't mean they weren't dangerous. Faith, when used properly, was a dangerous weapon. For all the emperor's lack of physical strength though, Kojiro would see that he was dangerous. The reason? The Emperor had that mad spark of ambition that often sparkled in Nobunaga's eyes, that ambition that Kojiro knew was often alight in his own soul. The man stepped towards them, before walking around Nobunaga and observing her like one would a piece of merchandise. Eventually, he stood on her left and turned to face her. A power play.

The Emperor greeted them cordially, saying with a smile, "Shogun Oda Nobunaga, in the flesh! I hear your conquests have gone well. Can I take these rumors to mean that Japan is once more under imperial power?"

A sudden promotion, if there ever was one. It meant that the Ashikaga Shogunate was now no longer recognized as the true and legal rulers of Japan. Everyone knew it, of course, given how things had gone for them over the last century, but the Ashikaga losing the Shogunate position would destroy them completely. The only good thing was that the new title opened up the way for an 'Oda Shogunate.' That was a trap in and of itself though. The Emperor declaring the Ashikaga Shogunate a thing of that past meant that he was giving himself control over who became the Shogun, which wasn't one of his powers. Perhaps long ago it had been, but military power determined who was Shogun now. Just accepting the title made for a dangerous precedent. If Nobunaga became Shogun because 'the Emperor said she was,' and that became the public understanding of why Nobunaga was Shogun, that was another invisible leash placed around her neck. After all, if Nobunaga pissed off the Emperor, he was just as likely to decide that she wasn't any more. Then, she could lose legitimacy. It was better to declare herself the Shogun through military might, not blindly use the Emperor's offered shortcut. Nobunaga recognized the trap too, judging by the brief annoyance that flitted through her eyes.

"Not quite, Emperor Ogimachi. I've yet to declare myself Shogun." she retorted.

To his credit, the emperor barely paused at the refusal, answering, "Ah, a pity. Well, no matter. I'm grateful that you've come to see me first. Come then, let's celebrate your achievement. I've prepared a feast, just for you."

The Emperor walked off, waving his hand as if to beckon Nobunaga forward like a disobedient dog. The entire time, Ogimachi had been addressing Nobunaga like a subordinate, and judging from the way that both Hideyoshi and Ieyasu had suddenly tightened their grip around their blades, they understood that fact too.

"Like I said," Kojiro repeated, "be cautious. Ogimachi is not our friend. He would just as soon have us killed as treat us to this feast."

The tightened grips relaxed, and Kojiro saw Ieyasu let out a breath.

"An apt reminder, Sasaki-sama." Ieyasu said.

The Emperor had even made sure to completely ignore the armed men around her, treating them like Kojiro and the rest were air. Placing importance on Nobunaga by ignoring the rest could make them feel as if Nobunaga was devaluing them herself too. In a single conversation, the method didn't have any effect, but over time? Reluctantly, the four of them traced Ogimachi's footsteps. The man was still within sight, and they followed him for perhaps a minute, before he stopped in front of a rather luxurious building. The Emperor was waiting at the top of the stairs and once they arrived, the man gestured for some servants to open the doors. The room was a grand thing, with paper lanterns hanging from a ceiling twenty feet tall. The floors were made of richly colored wood, and the decorations were no less expensive. It was a dining room fit for a king, which Kojiro supposed made sense. When they sat down at the main table, the food was already arrayed upon it, like some sort of all-you-can-eat buffet. There was fish, in both cooked and sushi form, next to meats of all sorts, be it fox, badger, boar, or deer. There were vegetables aplenty, along with tofu, and of course, white rice, the staple food of the noble classes. There was even pufferfish, arranged in a visually appealing pattern, in the table's center.

Kojiro wasn't up for feasting on neurotoxin just yet. Wisely, Nobunaga and the rest also chose to avoid the pufferfish. The three of them had made it this far by not eating deadly foods, and they could keep doing it. What wasn't avoided though, was the sake that the Emperor provided. It was served liberally, both by the servants who tended to the table as well as the Emperor himself, who kept on offering it to Nobunaga, who accepted. When the Emperor was serving you wine, you couldn't really decline, given his public status. Kojiro, on the other hand, chose to stick to plain water. He had to drink some sake, to avoid any suspicions, but after a few cups, he turned down the rest of the offers, citing his youth, the Bushido code of conduct, and his fear of embarrassment. That got the servants to stop offering wine. As Kojiro looked around, he realized with a sinking stomach that his companions were beginning to get drunk. They had kept on drinking on the basis that Ogomachi was drinking too, but the man wasn't. For every cup Nobunaga downed, the Emperor took only a sip. Sometimes, the man even raised the sake cup to his lips and didn't even swallow. Worst of all, the Emperor kept on pouring. Hideyoshi and Ieyasu were being honey trapped, simple as that. Women were at their shoulders, praising their ability to drink and how strong they were and how handsome they looked. To the drunk men, it must've seemed like they had suddenly become outrageously attractive. These weren't normal servants, but rather, trained seductresses. The servers too, moved with an unnatural grace. Their feet made no sound when they hit the ground, and while Kojiro was capable of being silent, he could move as effortlessly as that. Ninja, definitely. He'd not seen one before today, but Kojiro knew that they existed.

Kojiro got no ninja, the servants having begun to avoid him after he began to turn down wine. What he got was a young serving boy, perhaps a year younger than him. Despite this, Kojiro made conversation. There was only sense in making as many friends as he could, given he was in a den of enemies. If the boy was a ninja, well, Nobunaga was already doomed. If they could train a common nine-year old into a super spy, the royal family should have already conquered Japan. They hadn't, so Occam's Razor dictated that the boy was normal. Over the course of the conversation, Kojiro learned the boy's name was Kano, and that he was a night-time cleaner and servant. He did chores at night, so the palace was clean in the day, basically. While his companions got drunk, Kojiro regaled the boy with tales of battle and how he'd come to be Nobunaga's 'page.' The boy was hanging onto every word Kojiro spoke. The whole time though, Kojiro made sure to keep an eye on the others, to make sure nothing happened. The feast continued until the sun began to set and Nobunaga seemed to decide that enough was enough. The Emperor seemed to agree, perhaps having gotten the group drunk enough. He called some servants, who weren't ninja, judging by how they moved, and commanded them to escort the group to some rooms.

Kojiro bid Kano farewell, and moved after the group. Ieyasu, Hideyoshi, and Nobunaga were terrible drunks. Hideyoshi, normally cheerful and jovial, was still that, except he had become horrendously loud, and talked as if he was yelling across the room. The man stumbled about the entire time and Ieyasu had to hold him steady. Drunk Ieyasu was more manageable, given that he could walk straight, but the man became quick to anger, a sharp contrast to how he normally was. Ieyasu had nearly cut a servant in half, after said servant had approached Hideyoshi to help steady him. Kojiro had managed to stop him, and Ieyasu obeyed, likely only due to the fact that non-drunken Ieyasu had labeled him as both an ally and someone to be respected, given his relationship with Nobunaga. Nobunaga, on the other hand, was horrible in a different way. The woman had begun to crack puns and dirty jokes after they began to be escorted to their rooms. For example, Nobunaga had begun with, "I was standing with a woman, and she said, 'Give it to me! Give it to me! I'm so wet, give it to me now!'"

After a brief pause, Nobunaga continued by saying, "She could scream all she wanted, but I was keeping the umbrella."

The woman nearly collapsed with how hard she was laughing. Kojiro bore all of it, feeling rather as though he was the father of three rowdy children. They were taken to Hideyoshi's room first, a fairly large room, and luxurious too, given the large bed and expensive furniture. There was even a separate room for what Kojiro assumed was bathing. It was roughly sixty feet by thirty feet across, and came with a cabinet, a writing desk, and a large seating area for guests. Hideyoshi appreciated exactly none of it, walking into the room and collapsing face first into his bed. Kojiro walked into the room after Hideyoshi to make sure the man didn't suffocate, flipping him around so Hideyoshi could get air. One thing that Kojiro had made sure to note, in spite of the distractions, was where the man's room was in relation to the dining chamber. From the dining chamber, they'd been taken to the left from the entrance, walked for a bit, turned right, walked for a bit more, then turned left again, before walking straight down the hall past three separate rooms and into one hallway. Hideyoshi's room was located in this hallway. Next was Ieyasu. His room was identical to Hideyoshi's but in a completely separate place. They'd continued down the hallway, taken a left at an intersection of hallways, walked past four doors and two halls, before turning right.

One servant had stayed behind to 'tend to' each of the two men, leaving three to escort Nobunaga and Kojiro. Likely, they were just there to alert a superior if either man woke up, so the superior, who was likely a ninja, could go and deal with it. Whether these servants knew that their superiors were ninja or not, they were a threat. After all, while Kojiro was willing to believe that the servants escorting them weren't ninja, a ninja had to have decided where each of them were going to stay. Why else would each of them be so far apart from the other? A situation like this was ideal for making sure Nobunaga's soldiers were divided, isolated, and most importantly, easily conquered. Nobunaga's room, in a perfect instance of this, was a three minute walk away from Ieyasu's room, and a longer walk from Hideyoshi's, despite there being several perfectly serviceable, if less luxurious, sequential rooms to sleep in in each hallway. From Ieyasu's room, they'd walked further down the hall, past another two branching hallways, past two other rooms, before banking right and walking back one more room. From there, there was another left turn. This was Nobunaga's room, the most luxurious of all, about ten times the size of Kojiro's old hut. It was ten times more expensive than Ieyasu or Hideyoshi's rooms too. The seating area was twice as large, with big and comfortable chairs, there was an exit to a private outdoor garden with an outhouse, there was an area sectioned off for work, with a large desk provided, for sleep, a large and raised bed had been provided, and even training, where a practice dummy and some tatami flooring had been arranged. Nobunaga walked into the room and sat down on one of the guest chairs. The servants made to leave, but Kojiro stopped them.

"Ah. My apologies, after celebrations Lord Oda enjoys…," Kojiro made the universal gesture for sex, making a ring with his left hand and sticking his right index through it.

The servants didn't seem all too shocked, nodding in understanding. In all likelihood, they'd seen instances of this far too often to be surprised.

"Please, give me a moment to speak to the Lord, and then you can take me to my room." Kojiro requested, before stepping into Nobunaga's room.

Nobunaga was waiting for him on the seat, and when he approached, Nobunaga's hand darted forwards and snatched up his left arm. She pulled him towards her, and Kojiro went with it. He used his other hand to pull the woman into him as well. Her head fell directly into the crook on his neck and she whispered something unintelligible, likely another crude joke. To an observer, it must've looked like Nobunaga was about to ravish him, until he pulled away with a blush on his face. In reality, that embarrassment came not from Nobunaga whispering into his ears, but from the sheer embarrassment and shame he felt upon realizing that Seigen had been aware of his secret the entire duration of his training. Nobunaga played her part perfectly, waving him away in drunken irritation, and Kojiro did as 'instructed.'

He scampered back to the group of three waiting servants, with his face still crimson, and said, "Lord Oda is still, uh, hungry. I need to return within three minutes. If you could show me to a room?"

From the commiserating looks on their faces, they took the words at face value, obviously familiar with the way some samurai slept with their pages. The three servants took him to a room, back the way they came, until they reached a small room that the group had passed earlier. It was much smaller, but no less fancy, and Kojiro stepped into it. It seemed fine after a moment of inspection, so he turned back to the servants.

"After Lord Oda is done with me, may I trouble you to run a hot bath? The Lord can be rough, when she's drunk. In perhaps three hours." he asked.

He received more sympathetic words, some nods, and confirmation of his request. He thanked them with a sketched bow before taking off down the hall, as if he really was on a time limit. The servants just watched him go, and he could feel the pity on his back. Good, that meant his display had been convincing. Nobunaga was right where he'd left her, reclining lazily in her chair, as though it was a throne. She got up as Kojiro approached, but stumbled, and Kojiro helped the woman to the bed, before tucking her into it. Nobunaga tugged at his sleeve, in a plea to have him join her in the bed, but he pulled his hand back, and handed her his kimono instead. It was accepted happily and within seconds, she was asleep. Kojiro straightened himself and stepped back to take a deep breath. No doubt about it. There would be some trouble tonight, most likely targeted at Nobunaga. He'd be ready for it though.

A/N:

PSA about the dangers of alcohol lmao. But seriously, maybe don't drink yourself silly in an enemy castle. But also, apparently samurai being drunk was just like, fine, so that reflected here. Also, I'm on several watchlists now, in doing research for the next few chapters. As a heads up, I was doing this daily for NaNoWriMo, so daily uploads stop in 5 days. Update will become twice a week instead, so I have time to like touch grass and stuff.