To Reach Heaven (Fate Grand Order)

[Accessing History. Panhuman History. Japan. Sengoku Period. Open File.]

The rain splashed against her face, as she rode through the woods with a wide grin. Yet again, her instincts proved right! As expected of Bishamonten's blessings! Her soldiers may have been complaining in their heads for having to leave in the middle of the night but it was all worth it! Because of her insight, they were able to arrive at the plains before the enemy could! Now, after waves after waves of attacks, she could rush through.

She giggled as she cut her through the retreating soldiers, their ranks in complete disarray as her commanders were taking care of the Takeda commanders. She could smell it, the enemy camp. The heart of the army. She only had to take care of the fool of a general there and then she could have a good drink! Licking her lips, Kagetora spun her spear, mixing the rain with the blood she splattered. But she had to admit, this general wasn't half bad. Sadly, not half bad wasn't enough to deal with her divine blessings!

"Milord, the camp is in sight!"

A feral growl escaped her, tasting the death that was about to come. Slamming her heels into her mount, she pointed her spear forward, showing her teeth as she did so. The soldiers in front of her paled and fear took their hearts just before she crushed through them.

"Then let us finish this once and for all, hahahahaha!"

The guards were nothing to her. They may have been a cut above the rest, but they were still mortals facing divinity. Simply jumping over them and letting her own soldiers deal with them, she licked her lips in anticipation as her eyes landed on her target. It would be hard to miss and hearsay were not the most reliable methods of recognizing someone. However, white hair, scarlet red armor with a mask that mimicked the whiskers of a cat and a sturdy looking iron fan with some characters on them were a dead giveaway. She twirled her weapon, jumping high in the air with her horse, her face a wide grin.

So that was the infamous Takeda Shingen, the Tiger of Kai? Interesting! Her glaive crashed down on the fan. Her eyes widened as she tilted her head with curiosity. What a sturdy fan and what powerful arms! To stop her blade just short of carving his face in, instead merely hitting the mask itself! Then the man snarled, his arms bulging under the strain. It happened in a mere split second, but Kagetora was diverted away. Immediately, she turned around after her horse created some distance for a running start.

However, as she faced her opponent again, it happened. The mask, cracked by her attack, fell apart and dropped to the ground. In that moment, time seemed to stop. The man was handsome, Kagetora had to give him that. The scar over his chin, most likely from his younger days, just added to the charm. Yet it wasn't the beauty of his appearance that shocked her to her core. It wasn't even the fact how his white hair started to turn white and his eyes turning into slits as he bared his teeth like an animal. It was the way he looked at him, staring beyond her own face and deep inside of her. It wasn't the first time she was looked at before. With respect. With fear. With anger. Kagetora didn't know why she was affected now, what she was looked at with.

However, as time started to move again, she could only widen her grin, leaning forward with her glaive in hand.

'I want to kill him! I need to kill him! Killkillkill!'

She didn't know where this urge was coming from. Excitement for a worthy opponent? To make him stop looking at her like that? Revenge for making her feel weird for a moment? Kagetora didn't know nor did she care. All she knew was that she wanted to kill him so badly it wasn't even funny anymore.

The iron fan blurred against her glaive. Impressive. Takeda was faster and stronger now, making her muscles shake under the pressure. It was as if he just 'woke up' if Kagetora had to use a metaphor. No problem though. She threw her glaive to the side, knocking his weapon out of her way for now. As he was out of balance, Kagetora unsheathed a katana, one of the many weapons she carried on her person. But as she was closing the distance, her eyes widened. He recovered faster than expected. Not with the arm that held his weapon, but with a left hook hitting across her jaw. She almost fell off her horse, but ingrained instincts kept her on her trusted partner. Stumbling back with her ride, she tasted something weird in her mouth. Then as it reached her other senses, her eyes widened, her smile frozen.

She was bleeding. That was a first as far as she could remember. Most of her enemies were too weak, cut down by her with ease. Not only that, for maybe the first time in her life, she felt her own divine protection weakening. Or rather that divinity of hers was directly assaulted with that punch. By all means, she should've been angry at the affront. Angry that the Avatar of Bishamonten was hurt like this, in combat of all things. Yet all she felt was... curiosity. Curiosity why she didn't feel anger. Curiosity why her heart was beating faster more and more when facing this man. Curiosity about who Takeda Shingen was. And Kagetora only knew one way how to communicate with people, even if it kept failing with the normal humans around her.

Violence.

Without a second thought, she brandished two spears in her hands. At the same time, her opponent drew a katana in his second hand, fan and sword in a defensive form. She had the reach advantage, but Takeda's defense was solid. As their weapons clashed against each other over and over again, as their blades cut away at their skin and tasted blood, Kagetora couldn't help but let out a deranged laugh. This pain, this exhaustion... she had no idea how long she was using her arms, but she loved every second of it! And seeing her opponent grin at her even with the pain and exhaustion clear in his expression, she was surprisingly not the only one.

However, as always, all good things had to come to an end.

"MILORD!"

In her high, Kagetora completely forgot about her surroundings. She completely forgot about her own soldiers... and his. So focused on her opponent, she didn't react in time. The spear spilled the blood of her horse. She rolled on the ground, abandoning it immediately. Without hesitation, she rose and cut down two riders with their mounts at the same time. Her eyes searched for her target, only to widen. Takeda was being pulled back, a mass of riders putting themselves between her and their lord who seemed in shock. Kagetora's teeth ground against each other at the sight.

They weren't done yet... why was he leaving?! He didn't get to leave! She was this close to... to something!

Her smile was straining, as it was so wide it could split her face apart. Veins pulsed on her face, her grip on her weapon so hard it groaned under the pressure. She didn't want to leave. She wanted to finish this. How dare they, interrupt the best duel she had in her life?! Every part in her body wanted to cut through those fools, to resume her fight. But she wouldn't be the God of War if she just gave in to every base instinct she had. Taking deep breaths, her body slowly but surely relaxed, as her enemies and her allies glared at each other in that short standoff. Then, she clicked her tongue in annoyance. Staying here would amount to suicide. They lost their momentum.

Another time then, she thought displeased.

"Retreat!"

Escaping was easy. Takeda seemed 'happy' enough in letting them leave. Suffice to say, both of their armies suffered heavy losses in this fight. Yet Kagetora couldn't be happy about ruining her opponent's plans as she did. After all... she felt discontent. She couldn't kill him in time. Nor could she find out why she felt so weird in that moment. She rolled her shoulder as she rode away on her substitute mount. Kagetora was sure this would go away soon enough.

/

Staring up at the night sky, Kagetora grumbled, her smile hiding her sour mood. Not as she expected, those feelings of hers did not just go away. And not knowing why infuriated her to no ends. Every time she closed her eyes, Takeda was in the front of her mind. She didn't understand. Why was he different? Why was her heart beating so much? All she had were suspicions, ranging from actual curses to just being a strong opponent... She shot up from the grass she was lying on. Determination filled her mind as she grabbed as many weapons as she could on her way to her mount.

There was no use trying to break her head over it. In times like these, she just had to trust the one thing that carried her through life over and over again. Her instincts. And right now, she needed to sneak off to a certain location to finally get some proper rest for her mind. It was stupid, in a sense. To return to the place where a hard battle was fought. The chances of being discovered and surrounded was high. However... she needed answers. To get rid of this uncertainty of hers. Time passed rather quickly. One moment she was lying on the grass, the next she was already back. She could see the remnants of weapons, the blood mixed with the dirt in the ground. She could see the battlefield that raged here just hours ago. Yet as she opened her eyes and looked around, she froze. Her gaze met another, eyes just as wide as hers.

Takeda Shingen stood just a few meters in front of her. In that instance, the turmoil in her own chest exploded. Confusion. Disbelief. Anger. Excitement. Other emotions she couldn't place. But the strongest emotion from this storm? The desire to fight. The iron fan and the spear were drawn at the same time. With sharp teeth and eyes that literally glowed with excitement, metal clashed against metal. If there was a witness, they would probably give grand poetry about this fight. Amazing imagery and what not. But Kagetora didn't pay any heed to her movements or his. She merely laughed loudly, staring directly into the eyes of her opponent. With each strike, she felt herself more and more excited, as if she was slowly reaching the answer she was looking for.

Then it happened.

He stumbled and her eyes zeroed in on his side. It would be so easy. To extend her spear with her top speed and pierce through him. It would easily kill him and she would get rid of him. The Takeda clan would be utterly destroyed, losing their great leader and she could easily take over Kai that way. However... her mouth twitched. The thought of Takeda lying on the ground, lifeless, to disappear just like that... She created some distance between them. She didn't take that opening. And for some reason, Kagetora was completely fine with that, which confused her. Didn't she want to kill him? When the question ran through her mind, she realized that... she didn't. There was one simple explanation, as the two of them breathed heavily, circling around each other.

She was having fun. For the first time, she could genuinely enjoy herself with an opponent, someone who could take her playing a bit more rough. And this was what this was. Rough playing. When was the last time she did that? It must have been during her childhood, when she horrified her family by pushing just a tiny bit too hard. The fear was not present in Takeda's eyes. No, instead he stared at her with an emotion entirely new to Kagetora. Not fear. Not anger. Just simple, pure... fascination. It was almost a bit embarrassing. As her face heated up a bit, she lost herself for a moment. That distracted caused her to slip up on the wet mud beneath her. Her reflexes immediately compensated for her mistake, but she knew that this could easily kill her. Yet death didn't come.

Just like her, her opponent didn't take the chance. Her heart skipped a beat. An instance later, their weapons clashed again, with even more ferocity than before. Metal chipped away, their tools straining under the pressure, as the very air began to distort from their aura. Yet their smiles, innocent and happy, didn't waver at all.

Kagetora always saw herself as something separate from the people. The avatar of Bishamonten himself, a being of the divine. But now, she couldn't help but giggle. Was this what it felt like to be... human? To yearn for someone like this? A part of her was concerned about this. Caring too much meant weakness. She saw how frail her men were, with their human emotions and what not. Yet now she could somewhat understand why they pretended to be better than her at times. This feeling was something one couldn't replace. Not having it now was unthinkable for Kagetora.

With renewed vigor, she knocked his weapon aside. Immediately after, she threw her own weapon away and lowered herself as she dashed towards him. Her arms wrapped around his stomach and with a shout, she knocked him down to the ground. The moment they touched the dirt, she moved quickly, mounting him in a split second. The two of them breathed heavily, as she saw on his stomach, her hands resting on his chest. The silence stretched into an eternity. In her mind, she could see thousands of ways to kill him right then and there. Crushing his windpipe with a well placed strike. Stabbing his eyes out with her fingers. Slowly choking him to death. But in the end, Kagetora merely mirrored the smile Takeda had.

She had enough. It was a foreign, new feeling. But she truly felt satisfied right now. A fight with a nice conclusion. Not tainted by fear or horror at her strength. And even better, they were both alive. They could do this again. A giddy giggle escaped Kagetora, her eyes half lidded. Ah, how wonderful. She was going to keep this fun forever! Once their breathing calmed down, she rolled off him, sighing as she lied on her back, looking up at the night sky. Then, with a smirk, she turned her head to her right and gave him a small nod.

"Nagao Kagetora!"

There was no real reason to announce a name practically everyone already knew. Yet as meaningless as it was, Kagetora felt that it was something she needed to do in this instance. It made things feel more... real. Her opponent, no, her rival didn't miss a beat as he smiled back at her, arms crossed under his head.

"Minamoto no Harunobu." He blinked before reaching inside his clothes. With a warm expression, he pulled out two rice balls. "Food?"

She laughed loudly before snatching it out of his hands. Free food! The best kind of gift in the world! It wasn't the best rice ball. Dirt was inevitable. It was dry due to its age most likely. Yet she couldn't deny it was the tastiest thing she had eaten in a while. Without blinking, she stared at the man who was most likely the reason. The two of them drank in the details of the other, causing Kagetora to smirk widely. This was confusing. It was weird. One could almost call it scary, if she was capable of such an emotion. However, one thing she knew for sure... he was hers! Hers alone!