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. 28 START
Upon hearing the sound, Kojiro snapped around immediately, tanto readied in case of a sudden attack. Fortunately, there was no immediate assault, besides the one on his ears. Unfortunately, the screamer was about twenty feet away, and if they tried to run to safety, Kojiro wouldn't be able to catch them. He couldn't quite make out their face either, and their voice had been so shrill that he'd been unable to tell if it'd been a man or woman who'd spoken. The person approached, likely to see who Kojiro was, their vision similarly obscured by the fire raging behind him. Perfect. He took the chance to run at the person, before hitting the ground and slide-tackling their legs out from under them. There was absolutely no resistance offered up, Kojiro's target simply trying to hop backwards. If this person was a samurai or a ninja, there definitely would have been some sort of reprisal, given their marital training. This was one of the ordinary servants, and after leaning in to scan their face, Kojiro realized that the person was the young serving boy that he'd spoken to during the Emperor's feast.
He recalled the boy's name, then asked, "Kano, what are you doing here?"
The boy stiffened at the sound of Kojiro's voice, and Kano asked tentatively, "Lord Sasaki? Is that you? I'm, uh, supposed to change out the candles."
Kojiro spoke again, ignoring the flames around him. There was enough time for a quick chat.
"You wanted to be a samurai, no?" Kojiro asked, "Do you know what the first rule of being a samurai is?"
The boy looked baffled at the non-sequitur, answering, "Yes, I do. Does…does that have something to do with why you're burning down the dining hall?"
"It does, actually," Kojiro said, "it's rather simple. The Emperor has tried to have Lord Oda killed, and I seek to kill him for the attempt."
Rather than immediately deny the thought as an impossibility or blasphemy, Kano simply looked at the ceiling, then at the door, no, past it, before looking back at Kojiro, who'd gotten off of him and was now sitting besides him on the floor.
"I'd call you insane for even considering that possibility, but for the whole time I've been here, things have been off." explained the boy.
At Kojiro's curious look, Kano elaborated, "Sometimes, the Emperor takes young serving girls into his room. They don't come back the same afterwards. Other times, some servants just vanish for a little while, then return as if nothing's wrong. The Head Servants don't bat an eye, since they disappear with the rest. The last person who questioned his friend about it vanished too, only, he was found dead in the forest the next day. I was the one who found him. Gored by a boar, they said. They were lying, the wound was deep and clean, like a sword's stab."
Kojiro just listened, then asked, "How would you know?"
"My father was a retainer to a low-ranking samurai." the boy explained, which was all that Kojiro needed to understand.
Kojiro asked, "Where is he now?"
The only reply was a sad smile.
"Dead, probably," Kano said, "the samurai came to my mother, before asking for her hand in marriage. Said he'd 'take care of her.' Neither of us trusted him, so we ran here, to Kyoto, with the bit of change we had. I managed to get a job in the Imperial Palace, thankfully, so my mother doesn't need to work, but now, I don't have time to see her. She sends letters sometimes that one of her friends writes for her."
Kojiro prodded the boy with another question, asking, "How well do you know the inner workings of the Imperial Palace? Are you friends with anyone here?"
"I know the Palace pretty well, I guess. I'm a nighttime cleaner, so I've gotten plenty of opportunities to explore. And no, Everyone here is weird. Too cheerful by half. None of them ever talk about their parents, and when I asked, one boy said that the Imperial Palace was his mother and that the Royal Family was his father. I have no clue what he meant, to this day."
Kojiro jumped on the opportunity, saying, "Kano, I'll tell you what. You help me kill Ogimachi and I make you a proper samurai. Adopt you and everything. I'll take care of your mother too, if you think that she needs it."
The boy seemed puzzled, questioning, "Ogimachi?"
"The Emperor's real name." Kojiro clarified.
"Oh, that makes sense," Kano said, "we were always told to refer to him as Lord Emperor or Emperor-dono. If we even looked at him, we were lashed."
The boy paused for another moment, before saying, "That works for me, Sasaki-dono. I'll take you to the Emperor's chambers, but I can't help you kill him. I've never used a sword in my life."
"Good." Kojiro answered, "Just so you know, normally, betrayal goes against the Bushido Code. As a samurai, doing something like this will see you outcast from every lord, except the foulest ones. But, between you and I, some people just aren't worth the loyalty you give them."
"The Emperor didn't give you an omotenashi, did he? Didn't observe the proper rules of hospitality/" Kano inquired.
No, there had been no omotenashi, no tea ceremony. In Japanese culture, tea ceremonies were a sign of hospitality, a host declaring their willingness to look after their guests wholeheartedly. Nobuanga had never done such a thing, though, Kojiro supposed that was just a result of Nobunaga's personality. Tea ceremonies had come up once in his life, when Seigen had taught him how to perform and participate in them without embarrassing himself, but that was it.
"No, he did not," Kojiro confirmed, "but that's enough chattering. Where's the Emperor?"
Kano got up with a grunt, before pointing at the door that he'd first come through, and saying, "Through there. The male head servant was talking about how he wanted to check up on the guests. Given what you've told me, he probably wanted to make sure you were dead. He'll be here any minute."
That was good info, but Kojiro needed one more thing, asking, "His name?"
Kano replied instantly, saying, "Yoshida, no last name. He's been here for a while, fifteen years. Rumor says he used to be a normal servant like the rest of the kids here, but bought himself out of duty. He makes us call him Yoshida-sama. Hits us if we don't."
He heard footsteps echo though the half open door, stowed his tanto away into his clothes and whispered, "Play along," before throwing the door open and sprinting into the hall. A moment later, Kano followed him. On the other side, there was a man walking, likely this 'Yoshida-sama.' His eyes snapped to the two of them, and he called out in a sharp voice.
"Where do you think you're going?" Yoshida reprimanded, "How dare you run through these sacred halls. Explain why, and it better be good, unless you want to be whipped."
The man was on a power trip, evidently, and Kojiro gave himself a moment to think, before Yoshida snapped at him again.
"Boy. I'm speaking to you. Answer." the man commanded.
Internally, Kojiro scoffed, but outloud, he answered slowly as if talking to a particularly stupid person, "Sir. The dining hall is on fire."
Kano backed him up, saying, "All the candles were lined up against the wall! There was someone there. He attacked me. See?"
Yoshida barely processed Kano's words, Kojiro's sentence having short circuited his brain. His eyes widened, in fear and embarrassment, he raced past them to look through the door while cursing. With that attitude, you never would have realized the man was a ninja. It was only by the way he moved, too fast for someone who was only supposed to be a common servant, if one in a higher position.
The man's head poked back through the door, glaring at Kojiro and Kano, saying, "You two! Get to the servant housing and wake up Kaori. Tell her to get over here, right now! Go, quickly!"
The man disappeared, trying in vain to deal with the flames, and rather than move quickly, Kojiro took off at a casual place. The longer the palace burned for, the harder it would be for the blaze to be brought under control. While they walked down the hall, Kojiro decided to ask a few more questions. The first was if there was any other person of note.
"The head of the female servants is named Kaori. Makes us call her Lady Kaori. She's always dressed up in full courtly garb." Kano answered quickly.
Kojiro nodded, then asked, "Let's get her out of the way first. Which way to the servant areas?"
Kona looked puzzled, asking, "Not to the Emperor?"
"That's too risky. Ninja. I need them all to be dealing with the fire so they can't come to the Emperor's aid." explained Kojiro.
Without his odachi, Kojiro could deal with perhaps three ninja teaming up on him. They had plenty of projectiles, not to mention actual swords, so if he was ganged up on, he was dead. That wasn't even to mention that he wanted to keep Kano alive as well.. He didn't know how many of the servants were ninja, or ninja in training, so he needed to get them all out of the way. The best way to do that was to send them straight to fight the fire. They could wrestle it down within two hours, but Kojiro didn't need that long. Kano took a sharp left, then a right, passing one intersection, before turning right. The hallway came to an end, with only a closed door at the end. Kojiro opened it. The room was some sort of servant mess hall, where the servants could intermingle and gather. This late, it was empty, however. Kano pointed Kojiro towards the western door in the room, informing him that it was the women's dorm.
Kano explained, "You go through there. Lady Kaori is probably within. She won't recognize you, doesn't know any of the male servants, except those she dallies with. I'll handle the male servants. They know me."
At the center of the room, they split up and Kojiro pushed the door to the women's space open. There was a smaller version of the larger common area here, except it was obviously limited to women, and still had people in it.
Before any of the women could say or do anything, Kojiro spoke loudly, asking, "Can someone guide me to Lady Kaori? I need to relay something urgent to her, from Yoshida-sama."
Kojiro's words proved effective, since the whispering people fell silent, and one of the women got up and stepped deeper into the dorms. The woman returned within a minute with 'Lady Kaori,' and sure enough, she really was in a full court outfit. The only thing she was missing was the makeup.
"Boy," she said, obviously irritated at having been bothered, "what's Yoshida playing at? A message from him this late?"
"Yoshida-sama said to get you. Apparently,there's a fire in the dining hall." Kojiro told her.
Like her male counterpart, the woman's eyes widened and she cursed, "Those damn samurai would dare to set flame to the Imperial Palace?!"
This one was a ninja too. She'd immediately jumped to 'Nobunaga and her men burned the place down,' which was true, but telling of her allegiance.
The ninja took a deep breath, saying, "Boy. Return to Yoshida and tell him I am coming. Alert the men's side too." she commanded.
Kojiro nodded, turning and walking out of the room. The woman did the same, stalking off silently despite wearing two-inch geta sandals on her feet. They certainly should have clicked on the ground too, if one walked. In the main area, Kano was already waiting for him, and the moment Kojiro appeared, the boy waved at him, beckoning him to hurry. Kano went on to explain that there were two entrances to the Emperor's throne room and thus, his private chambers. The first was through the guards at the door, who would never let them pass, and the second was through a narrow passage from the servant's quarters. According to Kano, only the head servants were allowed to utilize it, and everyone else was to avoid it, on pain of death. They slipped through the entrance, making their way into the throne room. Ogimachi was sitting there, his head resting on his fist. The moment Kojiro and Kano came into view, his expression brightened and he called happily to them.
Happily, the Emperor asked, "You two must be the ninja meant to report on the assassination. How did it go? Well, I trust! Come, tell me what happened. Is that Oda yariman dead yet?"
The man had just called Nobuanga a slut. For an emperor, the man sure had a filthy tongue. He was eager to rid the man of it, to prevent him from dirtying the ears of innocents any longer. Kojiro was the one to step forward, reporting on 'his' failure. He bowed his head in mock shame.
"No, Emperor-dono. Those foul samurai have escaped, and in doing so, have set the entire dining hall on fire." he informed the man, "The three we sent have not reported back, so it's safe to assume that all of them are dead. Oda Nobunaga yet lives."
Ogimachi's face turned black with anger, and he stook up, cussing violently, yelling, "Then why, in Yomi's name, do I keep you shifty bastards around anyways? You group of ninja are worthless than the shit I get rid of in the morning. Shinjimae! Go drop dead. You know what? You, brat who just spoke, kill yourself."
Kojiro blinked in surprise, and he could tell by the sharp intake of air that Kano was shocked too. The man before him now was definitely completely different from the man who'd been drinking with Nobuanga. What an actor.
Despite the verbal assault, Kojiro kept his face still and spoke again, "I cannot, Emperor-dono. You must evacuate from the premises. You are at risk as long as you stay here. The fires near, and soon, Oda Nobunaga will return with her army. If you truly must, you may execute me afterwards."
The man's face purpled with impotent fury, and he growled, "Cheeky ninja brat. All of you are like this. So loyal, so silent, like I can't see you eyeing me, checking where best to stab. How dare you try to order me around to compensate for your own failures?!"
Kojiro let the man rant, just lying in wait as the man got closer and closer.
Ogimachi seethed, "Maybe I will kill you. There are two of you brats, after all. I only need one."
Ogimachi walked towards him, still furious, and raised his hand, demanding that Kojiro give him a weapon with which to execute Kojiro. The man, clearly, had gone insane. If there had even been a trace of noble or divine blood in his family's blood, it'd long since been polluted by generations of human genetics.
Kojiro's silence seemed to piss the man off, and Ogimachi walked closer. The Emperor kept talking.
"I bear the blood of Amaterasu herself," Ogimachi boasted, "the highest of all gods in the heavens or on the earth.! I will not be spoken down to by a ninja barely only enough to dress himself. Now, give me your sword, or else, I'll-!"
Near the end of the man's rant, he was directly above Kojiro, close enough that Kojiro could feel Ogimachi's heavy breaths on his neck. Kojiro shot upward, yanked on the collar of his happi, the top of the servant outfit, tp unsheath his tanto. With the way the sheath was positioned, Kojiro needed to draw it in a reverse grip, but that was fine. He brought his arm up, tanto in hand, above his shoulder, before driving the blade at Ogimachi's jugular. Kojiro watched in slow motion as the Emperor's face went from angry to terrified, watched him lean back and begin to backpedal, saw how his mouth opened to scream, and then, the moment before the blade made contact with flesh, it was parried by another weapon. A woman had appeared in front of him suddenly, and her sword had deflected Kojiro's own. Kojiro left back, but the woman didn't attack, simply turning towards the Emperor.
"You will retreat, Emperor Ogimachi. If you near the boy again, I cannot guarantee my ability to protect you. Do not inject yourself into this conflict unless you wish to die." she commanded.
The woman spoke to the Emperor like she was speaking to a worm, and yet, she had moved to protect him. She was a ninja, that much was obvious, but her outfit didn't fit any description of any ninja garb that Kojiro knew of. Rather than being dark and stealthy, they were actually rather ostentatious, almost miko-like, shrine maiden-like, in their design. Her top was a bright white, but was more of an undershirt than a shirt, as if someone had taken a proper shrine maiden chihaya and cut it up. Her bottom half was midnight black, rather than red. It was equally cut up, loose and baggy, with slits down the middle of the hakama's pant legs. The entire outfit was held together by a green and white obi sash, complete with green tassels. The woman herself had black hair, though in this light, it looked almost blue. She looked at him with a single eye, her pupils a piercing purple. Her other eye was covered by a strap. Was she blind due to a previous injury? That was all the time Kojiro had to look the woman over before she spoke.
Her voice was soft, almost breathless, as she stated, "You…are not one of my ninja. Yet, despite this, you've proven yourself far more skilled than any of them, than even I, when I was your age. Even I was convinced of your authenticity, for a few minutes. Your companion gave you away, with his fidgeting. It would be a shame to simply kill you off, while you are still so young. Which of the fifty-three clans have you come from? No, right now, it does not matter. Return to your leader and inform them that you have caught the eye of Mochizuki Chiyome. You will not be punished for failing your mission."
A/N:
Thanks for the 250 follows and favorites. What a milestone!
