A 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 Three: The Iron-Breasted God of Shadows
Honnoji is burning. Another unit must have set the walls alight somewhere else in the temple. The other gates will not last long in a fire, but even if the enemy is sure to break in elsewhere, I will stay here. This is where my lord commanded me to go, and this is where I will continue my stand.
The second wave came. And perished. Now the third wave has attacked. Two more commanders lie dead at my feet, and their soldiers fall around me as I slash, thrust, and spin. The bodies pile up on the ground, making it more and more difficult for the survivors to reach me.
I swing my blade in an arc in front of me, gutting three soldiers at once. As I kick one away to slice at the man behind him, I notice a bomb sailing through the air toward me. With hardly a break in my rhythm, I slap the thing with the flat of my sword, sending it back to the one who threw it.
The explosion sends several soldiers flying, and their screams tear the air. The shock of what just happened leaves the few men in front of me stunned, so I quickly finish them with little effort.
A pause in the battle grows as the remainder of the assault force stands and stares at me. I must look a terrible sight: my sword covered in blood up to the hilt; great patches of blood -- none of it my own -- covering my clothes, my bare arms, even my face; my eyes blazing fury and destruction.
I straighten and point my dripping blade directly at them.
"This body is a sword, and this place a burial ground. All who wish to die … come forth!"
To a man, they turn and flee.
I wiped my blade on the robe of the man I had just killed, careful not to look at his face. When I straightened, one of my attendants offered me a drink from a canteen while the other pulled the body away to lie with the rest. Their jobs done, they retreated several paces away and left me to my lonely watch.
I had sent my units further to the rear. I truly doubted I would need them, and I wanted to spare them the consequences of this ugly assignment. I was inwardly grateful that so few had come this way, but deep within me, I knew that it was only because almost none of them had made it this far.
"Sir?" One of my men had stepped forward again. "Lord Mitsuhide approaches from the north."
I turned to look where he pointed and saw, indeed, a familiar figure drawing nearer on horseback. A lump formed in my throat when I saw his slumped shoulders and how his hair fell forward, obscuring his face. I hurried forward to meet him, leaving my two men behind so that I could speak with him in private.
Since joining Lord Nobunaga's army, Lord Mitsuhide and I had been kept extremely busy. It seemed as if the whole world feared Nobunaga's ambition and talent, and we had been forced to deal with rebellions and uprisings, one after the other. Even Lady Oichi's husband had taken up arms against his brother-in-law, and then the Kyoto shogun, whom Lord Nobunaga had helped to reinstate. Now we were to deal with these Ikko-ikki monks who had resisted Nobunaga for years.
Lord Nobunaga had become increasingly vicious and heavy-handed with our enemies, and I had slowly watched the horror of it take its toll on Lord Mitsuhide's gentle face.
"My lord," I greeted him as I came level with him. "Are you all right? Have we suffered a setback?"
He ignored me, his eyes unfocused and distant. After a long silence where I heard clearly the beating of my worried heart, he sighed and said in a low voice, "How many died today, Ranmaru?"
I blinked and lowered my eyes, the reason for his visit now clear. I had no answer to his question, of course. I only knew how many I had killed.
He seemed to have read my mind, for he asked, "How many have made it here?"
"Not many," I replied quietly.
He turned his head and looked directly into my face. "How many did you let by?"
I looked up at him and saw in his expression that he had already guessed my answer. "None."
He closed his tired eyes, raised a hand to his temple, and sighed again. "No quarter. No surrender. No mercy." His eyes opened and lifted to the horizon. "Why?"
"I don't think it is our place to ask that, my lord."
Immediately, he rounded on me, his eyes alive with anger. "Not our place? Do you not have a mind of your own? A heart? A soul? How can you blindly follow his orders with no thought to your actions, no sorrow for the innocent lives you have taken?
"I do not follow him blindly," I replied, meeting his gaze. "I have thought about it a great deal."
The cruelty our lord had shown did weigh heavily on me. I knew I personally would never have been able to make those decisions, to give those orders. But I also knew I would never have the ability to unify the land, to make the petty squabbling stop, to bring peace to us for good. Lord Nobunaga did have that ability, and I believed in him. And so I followed him even through the dark times.
"I believe in him," I told Lord Mitsuhide, braving the fire that blazed from his face. "And I trust that some day, when we have accomplished our goals, we will be able to remember this time and know we did the right thing."
"The right thing," he echoed with scorn in his voice. "How can showing no mercy be the right thing?"
I looked away from him, trying to find a way to convey my thoughts. How could I apply words to a feeling, a simple conviction, in such a way that he would understand? "Perhaps, by eliminating this rebellion so completely, it will discourage others from doing the same. The lives we end here could save many more in the future."
"Ranmaru." His voice had dropped so low and softened so much that I turned back to him in surprise. The anger had left his face, and a deep, desperate sorrow had claimed it. He continued in a near-whisper, "They took everyone they found. Not just the monks. Women and children. Thousands of innocent people. They herded them all into the temple … and burned it."
I choked. For a moment, I thought my knees would give way from the sheer horror and shock. Lord Mitsuhide was staring at me, daring me to defend this man who had committed such a heinous offense against life. To my surprise, I found myself still wanting to.
"An example must be set."
"Didn't your mother become a nun when your father died?"
His words hit me like a bullet in the stomach. My cheeks stung painfully as the blood rushed to them. His implication was obvious. If my mother had been immolated this day, just one of the many victims of the Demon's rage, would I still defend him? Still believe in him?
Yes, I would.
Lord Mitsuhide had meant his words to weaken me, but I stared back at him with new strength. "I am sure he has reasons for his actions today, and I believe in him enough to trust them without having to know them."
My dear friend recoiled slightly at my response, the surprise and dismay evident in his face. It hurt to see him look at me like that, but I could not abandon my convictions. They were part of what made me me.
After a moment of terrible silence, Lord Mitsuhide shook his head and turned away from me. He said quietly, "I cannot stay here any longer. My army has already left the front lines, and I am going to join them." His eyes darted briefly to my face, but they would not meet my eyes. "There must be another way, Ranmaru. There must."
He turned his horse sharply and galloped off to the north. I watched him, unmoving, until he had disappeared.
A/N: The "This body is a sword..." line has to be my favorite "Come and get it" speech from any game, movie, whatever. But it just makes me sick to think of how horrible Ranmaru's English VA is in the game. (... throttles Tony Oliver ... looks around hopefully for Brianne Siddall ...)
Historically, Nobunaga committed two atrocities against the Ikko. I focused more on the second one at Nagashima since the thought of 20,000 innocents being burned to death really struck home for me. The first one, where he ascended Mt. Hiei killing everyone he saw, is more subtly reflected in Ranmaru's implied orders to kill anyone who tries to escape, regardless of age, gender, or affiliation with the monks.
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