A/N: Thanks to all that have reviewed; faved; and followed. :)

Pairings: Caesar/Ichihime, Charlemagne/Joan, others will be revealed as they come.

Interesting Facts: It was said that if Charlemagne knew the Pope would make him Holy Roman Emperor that he would not have set foot in the Church that day. Also, he despised fancy apparel, but would wear it if necessary; usually he dressed like the common people. He was also the first ruler of his time to promote learning and learned himself.

Disclaimer: I don't own Nobunaga the Fool.

Chapter 5

Magellan's ship was still hovering above the East Star. The admiral and Cesare Borgia were keeping an eye on things just in case Charlemagne and Joan needed help. Cesare was keeping a particularly close watch.

"Those fools!" Cesare exclaimed. He had been watching things unfold between Charlemagne and Caesar's match by a powerful telescope. He had just witnessed Charlemagne and Joan leave the area completely after Caesar had jumped into the river to save his wife. "That was the perfect opportunity to kill him."

Magellan, who was standing beside Cesare, gave the general a look. "Are you really surprised? Out of everyone in the Round Table, he is the least ambitious."

Cesare straightened up with a flat look on his face. "I do fully expect them to come back saying they "couldn't complete the mission due to not being able to soundly defeat him in an honorable match"."

"Right..." Magellan replied dismissively; he didn't feel like arguing with Cesare over that point. "Well, I'm certain Charlemagne is trying to capture Caesar, which is no small task. When our Star was at war he was the only one to invade King Arthur's country," he looked at Cesare. "Well, successfully invade anyways..."

Cesare froze and slowly turned to the admiral. "If it wasn't for that storm my armada would have been successful, even more so than Caesar's. He did lose, I might add."

Magellan just gave him a look. "I say your fleet getting sunk is what you get when you invade a country because the princess rejected your offer of marriage."

Cesare's look turned dark. "That's not why I did it. And the storm appeared from nowhere," the general replied stiffly and turned back to the telescope. "Really, why did Charlemagne volunteer in the first place?" He jumped back to the previous subject to get off of the one he didn't care for.

"I thought it was to get out of dodge myself," Magellan mused as he stroked his chin.

"What for?" Cesare inquired.

"Well... A certain woman will go on a rampage once she finds out Caesar got married," the admiral stated matter-of-factly. "I thought that was one reason you came too."

"Hmph! I'm not scared of some woman," Cesare immediately refuted.

"Well, I wouldn't want to be near her when she finds out," Magellan stated.

Cesare then paused and looked at the admiral. "Which woman?"

All Magellan could do was give the general a look.

At Kai...

Just outside Takeda Castle, Brutus was hiding in the woods. He had just finished surveying the area.

"Hm... Looks like Lord Caesar took his new wife with him," the lieutenant mused. "I suppose I can't use her against him. I'll have to approach Lord Caesar directly..."

And with that Brutus was gone...

The river that ran through where Caesar and Charlemagne's battle took place was still in a rage. The water was swiftly moving and anything that fell in vanished. There was no sign of Caesar and Ichihime, but the search party wouldn't give up soon.

A long ways downstream, where the river was calmer, Caesar broke the surface; Ichihime was secured tightly in left arm. With some effort he managed to pull them up on the bank. The general immediately turned to his unconscious wife, who was not breathing. After performing CPR, Ichihime jerked up and began coughing water out. Caesar did his best to help her as he propped her up.

After Ichihime got all the water out, she weakly looked up at her husband. "Caesar-dono?"

"Come, we have to warm your up," Caesar informed and picked her up. He took her to some rocks and sat her down, and then immediately went to removing her wet clothing.

Ichihime's face immediately went red as she realized what he was doing. "Caesar-dono!?"

"Relax, I won't remove your under garments," Caesar stated as he kept to what he was doing; not pausing a moment.

Ichihime relaxed and let him remove the heavy clothing and helping when he needed it; soon she was in just a white yukata. She watched as he wordlessly stood up and began gathering fire wood. "Caesar-dono, you should take care of yourself first."

"After I get a fire going for you."

His answer was so matter-of-fact, Ichihime couldn't reply. She watched as he stacked the wood and made a fire with ease. He had obviously done it many times before. "You make a good fire so quickly, Caesar-dono."

Caesar shrugged. "I had to do this a lot when I was in exile..." The general realized what he had said and shut his mouth.

Ichihime was visibly surprised. "Exile? For what?"

Caesar glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He sighed as he stood up. "Ah, it was during a civil war." He then removed his cloak and coat and laid them by his wife's clothing.

Ichihime frowned. "Why were you in exile?"

Caesar was silent as he removed his waistcoat. "The previous ruler perceived I was a threat," he then smirked. "Ah, he was right; I came back and deposed him." He chuckled as he removed his gloves. "When he exiled me he did say he would regret that he let me live and that he did."

Ichihime was silent for a few moments. "So, you weren't in line to rule?"

"Hardly," Caesar replied as he started to spread out their clothing so they would dry quicker. "I am from an ancient family who was influential, but not in line to rule."

"Why was there a civil war?"

Caesar paused and looked at her. "Do you really want to know?"

Ichihime nodded. "I want to know more about you."

Caesar looked into his wife's unfaltering gaze and knew she wouldn't be satisfied till she learned more. After a moment he nodded and went back to his task. "I was 16 when my father suddenly died and like every time when a head of my family dies there is a civil war to see who will succeed him." He decided not to include that it was a bloody purging of rivals.

Ichihime furrowed her brows. "Shouldn't his eldest son be the one?"

"Well, technically yes, but say that to my family. I was the head of my family for a little while before my uncle made his move. I lost and my inheritance was confiscated. I was familiar with swordplay, but wasn't trained for war, so it was an inevitable outcome. Not to mention the king backed him up..."

"You weren't trained!?" Ichihime exclaimed; shock evident in her voice. She thought back to Caesar's first appearance and his major win against her brother. He had come up with a grand strategy to invade. It was hard to imagine he wasn't raised to be a warrior. "Then how did you and when did you learn?"

Caesar smirked as he turned to her. "By pirates."

"Pirates!?" Ichihime exclaimed as she covered her mouth with her hand.

Caesar laughed. "Well, I learned some from pirates, but most of my training was from someone else. Before I was captured by them an old man with a hat concealing one eye taught me a lot of things... He also provided me a sword called Corcea Mors, that means "yellow death", an extraordinary sword. After I escaped the pirates, I disguised myself and joined the army; it wasn't long before I had gathered their support. I then returned and overthrew the king. My mother's family was impressed and supported me. No one was able to challenge me then and I went off to invade other countries till King Arthur ended that." He chose to leave out some specific details...

All Ichihime could do was stare at her husband. She wasn't expecting he had that kind of back story. No wonder he had some questionable means... "Why didn't your mother's family help you sooner?"

"Well, they were the reason I wasn't killed to begin with, but still to them if I didn't prove myself I wasn't worth helping. In their eyes if I wasn't strong I deserved to die a miserable death in the wilderness," Caesar replied nonchalantly.

Ichihime was once again taken aback. Her husband was from a really cold family and she could see he never felt love or warmth... Her heart began to ache for him. "Caesar-dono..."

"Well, I did end up grateful for being exiled," Caesar continued. "If I hadn't I never would have become king-" He stopped when he felt a hand over his own. He turned and saw his wife looking up at him with watery eyes. He was a bit shocked that she was about to cry for him.

"Caesar-dono, I am here for you," Ichihime tenderly said and placed her hand on his cheek.

Caesar's eyes softened as he covered her hand with his. He turned his head and softly kissed her palm. "Ichihime... I'm sorry," he added in a whisper.

"Caesar-dono?" Ichihime tilted her head to the side. She wasn't able to hear his last words.

Caesar just smiled; he knew an apology wouldn't suffice for what he had done... He would treasure her and show her with his actions, so that one day she would forgive him and their eyes would meet.

At Charlemagne's camp...

Charlemagne and Joan were alone, drinking tea, in one of the tents. They were obviously thinking over what had happened during their previous battle.

"So, that girl was Caesar's wife?" Charlemagne finally broke the silence.

"Oui," Joan confirmed. "She was also in my visions earlier..."

"I see..." Charlemagne paused and looked up at Joan. "Caesar has certainly changed. She must be why."

Joan nodded. "Anyone can tell that and they don't need my insight."

Charlemagne placed his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his hands as he thought some more. "This makes things harder... He's definitely not the ambitious man, who cares nothing for anything anymore. He has a heart now..." he sighed. "But we must carry out our mission... At least we don't have to kill him, but his fate is uncertain."

Joan sighed. "War is never easy... especially when good men have to fight each other."

"So, what do we do now, ma chérie?" Charlemagne inquired.

Joan placed her tea cup down and looked at her superior. "To the Azai. The previous Oda head apparently made a promise to them and it wasn't kept."

"Oh?" Charlemagne raised an eyebrow in question.

"It has to do with Caesar's bride..."

At the River...

Caesar and Ichihime were sitting on the rocks as they dried themselves out by the fire. Ichihime was gazing at her husband as she mused over things. He soon caught her gaze and smiled at her.

Ichihime blushed and looked down. "Thank you for saving my life."

"No thanks needed. Of course I would rescue you, my dear," Caesar replied.

"You even risk your own life."

Caesar shrugged. "There wasn't that much danger for me. I'm used to this sort of thing."

"Most lords wouldn't do that for their wives though; especially during a battle where their enemy could easily kill them." Ichihime knew Caesar was unique even amongst his own people, but she was still struck by how much.

Caesar smirked. "Ah, but I believe my feelings for you are quite clear, my dear Ichihime."

Ichihime giggled at that. It certainly was as he wasn't shy at letting anyone know that he loved her.

"But really, knowing Charlemagne, he wouldn't attack at that time. I'm sure he left after that," Caesar stated.

"Really? That's a relief," Ichihime sighed. She hadn't thought about the others being in danger till then. Without Caesar they would have been easily wiped out by someone like Charlemagne. She then looked up at her husband as another thought entered her mind. "Caesar-dono, can you tell me more about where you're from?"

"You want to know?" Caesar inquired; a bit surprised she was still curious.

Ichihime nodded. "What is where you're from called?"

"Well, now it is called Quadrant 15, but before King Arthur took over it was called Italy," Caesar turned to his coat and took out a small device. He pushed a button and it displayed a map of the West Star. "Ah, here, I can show you with this."

Ichihime looked at it in awe. "Where is your territory, Caesar-dono?"

"There is Italy; it is also affectionately called "the Boot" at times," Caesar pointed out.

Ichihime giggled. "It does look like it."

"On the northwest border is France that Charlemagne rules," Caesar also informed. "The isles north of there are the British Isles where King Arthur rules from."

"I see..." Ichihime looked up. "Do you miss your home?"

"Not really," Caesar shrugged. "It's not what it used to be anyways. It used to be really beautiful, but has now started to decay... But still, I can't say it ever felt like home." He smiled softly at his wife. "My home is wherever you are."

Ichihime blushed, but found she couldn't look away from her husband's gaze. Soon he leaned towards her like he was pulled by a magnetic force... But he caught himself and pulled back. For some reason the princess felt a flutter of disappointment in her chest.

"You should get some sleep. We'll start the trek back tomorrow," Caesar said in a voice that was a bit strained.

Ichihime nodded and stood up and looked around. "Um..." She found she was not able to think straight.

"I would let you use my cloak, but I think your clothing would be more comfortable to be on as it's bigger," Caesar stated as he grabbed Ichihime's pink kimono and laid it on the ground.

"Thank you," Ichihime said gratefully and then laid down. She watched as her husband got his cloak and laid it on top of her. She smiled at him to show her appreciation, but frowned as she watched him sit back down. "Aren't you going to lie down too?"

Caesar quirked a brow in response. "Are you sure?"

Ichihime nodded. "You are my husband and we do share the same bed."

Caesar smiled. "Ah, then I certainly will. I would be a fool to turn down such a request from my beautiful, darling wife."

Ichihime giggled as she watched her husband lay beside her; this time facing her. Caesar reached over and took her hand in his. Ichihime returned his smile with one of her own. And with their hands joined they fell asleep...

An unknown time later, Caesar awoke to the sound of bushes being disturbed. Sensing a presence he bolted upright; instinctively shielding Ichihime as he did so. The movement woke the princess and she sat up with a confused look on her face.

"Caesar-dono?" Ichihime questioned as she gazed at her husband. When he did not respond she noticed the serious look on his face and the way he held his arm in front of her as if to shield her... She then followed his gaze to see someone else was with them... Her hands immediately flew to her mouth as she became scared.

"Et tu, Brute?" was all Caesar could say.

Before the general was Brutus with a gun in hand that was pointed at his former superior. "Lord Caesar, it's the end." Brutus then pulled back the hammer; the gun was ready to fire...

A/N: Well, there are a lot of historical references here. First off, is that Cesare did in fact refer to the Spanish Armada. The Borgias were actually Spanish and were from Spain, so I couldn't resist that. XD Also, Caesar's past is inspired by his historical one with twists to make it fit medieval times (with there being a king), and to compound it, and to be some different like Nobunaga's was. I decided to go with Italy instead of Rome because of the time they seem to be in as well. There is even legend and myth involved, which ties in the old man Caesar mentioned.