Meet Me on the Battlefield
When we finally reach our headquarters we find that nearly half of the ten thousand men we sent this way have either fallen or are seriously injured, and despite cutting down a third of the enemy's original eight thousand, it is clear that their spirits are tired, and losing hope. I part from Hideyoshi with a tender kiss as he heads to counsel with some of his vassals, and I go to find Ieyasu.
The usual look of contemptuous concentration on his face seems weary as he doesn't look up from the wound he is sewing together on one of our soldiers. "How nice of you to join us lady Toyotomi. I could use your help." A somewhat pleasant invitation? He must be truly exhausted to actually ask for assistance in his own way. I quickly come to his side and assist as he pulls the flesh of the man back together and blood gushes from the wound. When his patient groaned I place a cool hand to his forehead and whisper reassurances to him. When we are finished and washing the blood from our hands before going to the next wounded warrior I ask with a soft voice. "Where is Masamune?"
Ieyasu sighs and rolls his bright blue eyes. "What a stupid question." He remarks with a huff. "When Mitsuhide joined Kenshin's forces, bringing his number back up to near seven thousand and announced that he defeated Nobunaga at Honnoji that half blind fool was completely blinded by rage and charged to the front of the line."
I could slap this prickly man, I know he is concerned by the way he is talking about his friend. I take a deep breath. "Where is he now?"
Ieyasu eyes angrily snapped to me. "Last I heard he was heading into fight Mitsuhide himself and avenge the death of Nobunaga so that he might be able to face you without feeling so useless." He huffs after he finishes.
I swallow. "I have to go."
He grabs my wrist firmly. "I don't think your husband would want that."
When I rip my arm from his grasp his eyes widen in surprise as I speak. "You don't speak a word of this to Hideyoshi until I am gone. I won't be losing another husband any time soon."
Riding through the battlefield doesn't spare me from seeing of my weary soldiers fighting. It doesn't spare me from the sight of the dead bodies, and near dead men grasping onto their last breaths. The first gunshot surprised me, but as I rode on I grew used to the sudden loud sounds. The smell of fire, blood, and fear permeates the field as I continue to urge my horse forward as fast as he will go.
When I come upon the scene my heart races and I am enraged. Masamune fell for Mitsuhide's tricks and is fighting off three other men while Mitsuhide stands off to the side, looking entertained as he watches the fight until the fox power in him senses my approach. The fog of him spreads rapidly this time as I come closer and in the blink of an eye his tails and ears appear, along with that snarling toothy grin.
I am hoping that the distraction of the spirit's powers manifesting from us distracts Masamune's opponents, giving him the openings he can use. When I dismount my wings of flames spread wider than they did at Honnoji and the fox begins to bare his teeth. "I thought for sure you would have perished with Nobunaga. I suppose you don't love him as much as we thought."
I pull Nobunaga's katana from it's sheath and pull back into a readied position. "Let's not waist anymore of your remaining breaths discussing something you will never understand." I snarl my words before making my first attack and lung towards the coward in white.
He is fast, and avoids nearly every strike. Nearly is all I need though as I continue to make my attacks and land small gashes to his vital spots until his blood loss is enough to slow him down. He's getting sloppy, and as the sound of hooves quickly begin to approach he falls to his knees in front of me. I can hear Hideyoshi's dismount and hurried approach as his guards go to assist Masamune with the two remaining foes.
I step behind the kitsune and hold the blade against his throat as I speak into his ear. "How should I dispose of such a spineless creature as yourself?" When Hideyoshi stops in front of us with a prideful glint in his beautiful eyes I press the blade and begin to run the sharp edge along his neck. As the blood begins to spill from the cut it stain his white and silver kimono and he begins to fade into death I speak one last time to the fox spirit that took Mitsuhide Akechi as his vessel in a calm anger. "My flames will consume the powers you entrusted in this container, increasing my own powers, weakening yours for the rest of time so no one will fall for your lies and tricks again."
After Mitsuhide's body collapses and his blood soaks into the earth Hideyoshi extends his hand out to me with a proud smile. I take his hand and he pulls me to him. Before our lips can meet he speaks in a low tone. "Thank you." He kisses me deeply. When he pulls away and we begin to walk towards the rest of the men he squeezes my hand and looks down at me. "Next time, let me come with you. I will never hold you back."
I smile. "Never?" I ask with a raised eyebrow. "I have another spirit to kill and consume, along with a bastard brother to gut. Are you saying you have my back on this endeavor completely?"
He stops and turns to me. He speaks firmly as he brushes some of the blood from my cheek. "Completely. I trust you Rina. I just wish you would trust me."
I reach up and take his cheek as he leans to me and our noses touch. "I just didn't want to risk losing another person I love." My voice is quiet and steady.
"You won't. I promise. She showed me things too, remember? I know what to look out for." I feel eased by his words as he continues, emotions starting to accumulate in his voice. "Thank you… for killing him. I've never… I've never wanted to see someone die more than I wanted that man to die and I know Nobu— he's proud."
I press my lips to his again. "I promise that moving forward I won't charge off without you if it is avoidable. Consider his death my wedding present." His arms quickly encompass me at the waist and he squeezes me closely as tears start to fall from him and he hides them into my shoulder. "If only I could give him back to us." He sighs into my neck.
"Shhh…" I whisper into his ear. "The best thing we can do is use our lives to achieve what he wanted for this nation." He turned to me so I could kiss him again.
"Have the two of you forgotten that there is still a war going on?" The playful voice of Masamune pulls us apart with smiles.
We quickly make our way to him. "Are you injured?" I ask as I look him over and he shakes his head. How did a one eyed man fend off three men at once? I still have a lot to learn from him. He may not have been struck, but he is drained. Hideyoshi almost didn't catch him when he collapsed with a smirk on his lips. We brought Masamune back to head quarters to rest and be treated.
As Hideyoshi and I walked through the camps, checking on our men, wounded and tired, I can feel their waining belief. When we enter our tent, we both sigh. There is silence as I wash blood and dirt from my hands and face. When I finish I grab a cloth and walk to him, speaking in a tone of worry. "Hide—"
"I know." His expression is dark. "They are acting like we have already lost." He begins removing his heavy armor.
"They need something to give them hope that we won't fail. They need faith in a leader— and his wife." I slide my kimono down my shoulders.
"What are you thinking Rina?" He asks with genuine curiosity as he watches my blood stained green kimono fall to the ground.
I smile as I walk up to him and help him remove his layers. "Gather the men that are not out patrolling. The wounded, the tired, all of them, and let me dance for them—" He nods until I finish and looks somewhat unsure. "With my flames on display."
He takes just a moment to think as I pull away his robes and speaks with an understanding in his voice as I begin to wipe the dirt, blood and sweat from his face with the rag and warm water. "Because you know how much your flames inspired Nobunaga and me even before you could make them manifest for the rest of the world to see?"
I nod before running the warm cloth across his chest and down his abdomen to continue removing as many traces of battle that I can from his well toned body. When I step behind him I run the rag over the brand in between his shoulder blades. My fingers trace the mark, the symbol for plums. "You were sold to a plum orchard?" I whisper. He sighs before turning around with tight eyes and a nod.
"His daughter was— kind to me. She was a lot like you, strong willed, passionate, and defiant." He flashes a smirk before lowering his voice and continues. "When her father finally broke me, while the brand was still healing, she would bring me plums, which we were not allowed to eat, even while we worked in the orchard. One day, not that long before Nobunaga came, a man came through the town to sell lychee and she snuck out that night to find me, and to bring some for me to try with her." His eyes grow sad as he pauses. "I was very much in love with her, and when she bit into the new fruit and sighed, I couldn't stop myself from kissing her, and she didn't pull away, she pressed further and further until…"
"Your first?" I ask softly as my hands rest on his shoulders and he nods. "What happened after that?" I ask carefully.
"She came back the next night, and the night after that, and what felt like every night for over three months. It was the day Nobunaga came, she ran to me in the middle of the day, crying that her father was sending her away to be married, but she was certain that she was pregnant…" He takes a deep breath before the dark shadow falls over his golden eyes. "Her father had followed her when she ran to find me and upon hearing that she thought she could be pregnant with his slave's child he flew into a rage—" His nose crinkles in anger. "He killed her, ran her through, in front of me and was prepared to castrate me when the Oda forces descended upon the place. I hated that man, I wanted him to die, but I didn't want any of the other slaves to die, so I fought, I defended, and when we were defeated, when Nobunaga saw what my master did to his own daughter, he killed the bastard for me, but not before telling him who would be ruling the territory once he was out of the way."
"Hide—" My voice breaks a little as I pull his face close to mine.
His eyes closed as he breathed me in. "Earlier you said you left to fight Mitsuhide without telling me because you didn't want to lose another person you love… Neither do I. Don't leave me Rina."
"Never." I manage to get out before our lips crash into each other and he carries me to the futon. Feverish kisses. Feverish and desperate as his lips trail from my lips to my cheek, my jaw, my neck, along my collarbone, my chest and finds my breast.
He pulls one nipple into his mouth as his fingers play with the other, tugging and twisting lightly as my legs wrap around his waist and my hips press up so I can feel the beginning of his need for my warmth. He pulls his face away with a tug. "You know the rumors of the fight with Mitsuhide have already started to spread. I bet they are already saying things like—" his fingers begin to move along my entrance and swirl and press at the top as he makes up possible rumors of how I defeated Mitsuhide with just my stare. I would laugh if he wasn't already making me writhe and spill into his palm before sending the first finger inside, quickly adding a second.
His breathing is ragged as my nails dig into his freckled shoulders. "Do you think you can take another?" He asks huskily against my ear, his lips grazing the outer rim and sending electric waves down my spine. I whine something like "mhm." Once permission is granted he does not hesitate to stretch me with a fourth. My toes curl as his fingers move and guide me into unbridled ecstasy.
As soon as his fingers are out he pushes himself in and begins to thrust deeply into my still spasming gates. He swings my legs to one side and continues to fill me until he is close to his release and I have to grip his arm to stop him from pulling away and I speak in a near begging manor. "Please. I want to feel your warmth in me again." He smiles as he begins to ram into me until he pours every last drop of himself in me.
I love him and I know he is mourning with me for Nobunaga as we try to ease the pain of our hearts. The year before Nobunaga and I were wed, I fell in love with the way Hideyoshi cares, and the dedication he has for Nobunaga and his vision for the future. The way he blushes when someone notices how hard he is working or gives him any kind of compliment. The little wrinkle that forms by his left eyebrow when he closes his eyes in concentration. I chose Nobunaga over him before, because I believed my mother's visions, and because I was draw to his passion for his nation. I fell in love with Nobunaga when he stayed by my side while I tried to push him away. I will never be able to push him away. We will never be able to replace him. As we lay next to each other after, he must have sensed the wave of grief crashing over me because he pulled me close and kissed my forehead as tears fell between us.
He did as I asked. While I got dressed and ready he gathered every available man and helped the injured to sit in a circle that had three lanterns in the center. Hideyoshi offers to strum the Biwa and waits for me as I walk to the center in a red, black and gold outfit with strands of fabric falling from my elbows and both my katana and Nobunaga's are attached to my hips.
I take my starting position. I instructed Hideyoshi to let me begin without the instruments, for him to wait until he could hear and create the music with me as I create a new song.
"No time for rest
No pillow for my head
Nowhere to run from this
No way to forget
Around the shadows creep
Like friends, they cover me
Just want to lay me down and finally
Try to get some sleep" *
I begin to rise from a crouched position and Hideyoshi begins to strum.
"We carry on through the storm
Tired soldiers in this war
Remember what we're fighting for" *
As I move I pull Nobunaga's katana out and begin to combine dance and fight movements.
"Meet me on the battlefield
Even on the darkest night
I will be your sword & shield, your camouflage
And you will be mine
Echos of the shots ring out
We may be the first to fall
Everything could stay the same or we could change it all
Meet me on the battlefield"*
We create this new song together and I can feel their belief building, or at least trying to.
"We're standing face-to-face
With our own human race
We commit the sins again and than our sons and daughters pay
Our tainted history, is playing on repeat
But we could change it if we stand up strong and take the lead
When we were younger, we were named
A generation unafraid
For the heirs to come, be brave
And meet me on the battlefield"*
I pull the second katana out and my flames begin to quickly spread from my hands, over the blades and up my arms to cover my entire body before the wings, which have grown to be two sets now, grow from my spine and fill the area with enough light to suddenly not feel like night.
"Even on the darkest night
I will be your sword & shield, your camouflage
And you will be mine
Echos of the shots ring out
We may be the first to fall
Everything could stay the same or we could change it all
Meet me on the battlefield
Meet me on the battlefield
Even on the darkest night
I will be your sword & shield, your camouflage
And you will be mine
Echos of the shots ring out
We may be the first to fall
Everything could stay the same or we could change it all
Meet me on the battlefield"*
Just like my flames that grew and spread over me, the roaring cheers fill the place with hope and belief that will hopefully carry these men through the rest of this war as I make my way to kill the dragon, Kenshin Uesugi and his bastard older brother, the green eyed snake, Nagao Harukage.
*lyrics are from "Battlefield" by SVRCINA