Broken alliance
Black smoke rose over the treetops and billowed into the blue sky. The sight made a cold shiver run down Shingen's spine.
"Hurry!", he yelled at Yukimura and spurred on his horse even more.
Too late. They were too late. Why hadn't that bastard Nobunaga listened to him?! Shingen cursed the fact that their armies were divided into separate camps.
'Nobunaga! You fool!'
Shingen would probably still be sitting in his tent if one of his men on patrol hadn't spotted the smoke and alarmed him. And the young Takeda had immediately known what it meant.
Oda had actually gone ahead and done it.
As soon as the guardsman had reported the smoke, Shingen had yelled for a horse, with Yukimura doing the same seconds later. He had to try and talk sense into the black-haired warlord, to at least save what could he saved. He owed it to the people inside the temple – even though in his heart he already knew he would be too late.
'Oh, kami… with what monster have I allied myself?
And then he saw it. Smoke rising above the trees ahead. The sight pained Shingen as if someone had stabbed him right in the heart.
He and Yukimura raced through the small piece of forest that divided them from the temple. They were still beneath the trees when they could already see the red glow and hear the roar of the fire.
It was a temple which stood there, who housed many people who had fled from the war. Two days ago, a man whom Oda Nobunaga had pursued, one of his enemies, had sought shelter here. The warlord had threatened to kill everyone if they didn't hand him over. Shingen had tried to talk him out of it – apparently, Nobunaga's patience had lasted a mere day.
They rode out of the forest and were greeted by a wall of heat. In front of them, a horrible spectacle was in full swing. Flames were devouring everything that still stood of the temple, flickering and dancing as if they were reaching for the sky. The buildings of the formerly beautiful temple were nothing more than black, charred shapes in the red brightness. And most sickeningly of all… there could still screams be heard from the inferno.
Shingen felt as if he was having a bad dream. Refused to accept that what he saw was real. For the first time in ages, he felt nausea. I took him almost an eternity to get himself back together. When he did, he looked around almost frantically, looking for the one responsible. Luckily, it didn't take long.
Not far from them, a group of men, a few on horseback, many more without, stood and watched the gruesome sight. And here, among them, the warlord sat on a black horse, matching his hair, staring into the crackling fire. Immediately, the Tiger of Kai turned his horse and galloped towards him.
"NOBUNAGA!", he roared over the noise of the flames.
Oda had his eyes on the fire, not a flicker of emotion on his face. Yet he must have heard him, because he turned towards Shingen.
As soon as the leader of the Takeda had reached his ally, he yelled: "Nobunaga! What have you DONE?!"
The man bearing the nickname "Devil King of the 6th Heaven" started at Shingen, as expressionless as ever. After a long moment of silence, he replied: "They still wouldn't surrender my enemy who had hidden in their midst."
"But there were innocent refugees, people who haven't had anything to do with the war and had simply sought shelter. Please tell me you spared them…"
Shingen trailed off. One look into Nobunaga's unmoving face told him everything he needed to know. The hard gleam in the black-haired warlord's eyes seemed to turn even harder. The Tiger of Kai stared at his ally. All the proof he needed was that there was no civilian anywhere.
"No… you didn't…"
"I did what I had to do", Oda replied shortly.
That was too much for Shingen. It took a lot to make him really angry, but now he exploded with rage.
"ALL BUT ONE OF THEM WERE INNOCENT!", he roared, easily surpassing the fire's sound and causing Nobunaga's men to reach for their swords. He didn't care. "THEY WERE PEOPLE WHO SOUGHT PROTECTON! AND YOU, WHO SHOULD HAVE PROTECTED THEM, SLAUGHTERED THEM INSTEAD!"
Nobunaga narrowed his eyes, dangerous anger flashing in them.
" I don't have to justify myself to you", he coldly stated. "I did what I had to do, and that is all. They all turned traitors the moment they let him in. And it ought to be time you finally accepted we will never see eye to eye when it comes to how one treats his subordinates."
"Youuuu…"
The word came out as a low growl, as Shingen shook with suppressed rage.
So this was the real Oda Nobunaga. Truly a Devil King. In the beginning, Shingen had believed in Nobunaga's vision of a united and peaceful Japan. But the more time had passed, the more had the Tiger of Kai become witness of the other warlord's increasingly needless cruelty in going about that goal.
And this… the burning of this temple was worse than anything Nobunaga had ever done before. This had gone way too far for Shingen. As a warrior, he had seen many things, but never anything of the kind. And such a man was to become the unifier of Japan? Shingen didn't need any vision into the future to know that it would be a reign of fear.
And there was no guarantee that Oda's allies, Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyoshi wouldn't walk a similar path should one of them be the one to assume power. Nobunaga, Tokugawa, Toyotomi… if they all were the same kind of ruler, then one of them ruling over Japan was not a fate he wanted his loyal subjects in Kai to suffer. In that moment, the young Takeda wished nothing more than to slay Oda then and there Unfortunately, his skills with the sword were at least on par with Shingen's own, so he wouldn't go down easily. Then there were Nobunaga's retainers who'd kill him and Yukimura as surely as the sun rises in the East.
Yukimura, whom Shingen had forgotten completely for a moment in his anger, guided his horse next to his.
"My Lord…"
The head of the Takeda looked over at his friend. Yukimura's face bore sadness and anguish, exactly what Shingen was feeling. But the young lad's gentle reminder managed to make Shingen calm down again.
He returned his gaze to Nobunaga and stared into his red eyes unwaveringly. Here was no sigh of remorse or regret. Oda truly believed what he had said.
No. Shingen could possibly ally himself with such a man any longer. A man who was the complete opposite of his own principles.
"So this is it", the Tiger of Kai said, straightening to his full, imposing height. "This is where we part ways, then. Oda, after this, I cannot fight at your side anymore."
"You don't dream of peace any unity anymore, Shingen?"
"I do. But your way of doing it is completely wrong."
"Peace and prosperity have their price."
"Listen to yourself!" Shingen gestured at the fire. "You can't even tell necessary sacrifices from needless bloodbath anymore! I'm sorry, Nobunaga… but from this day on, the Takeda and the Oda are enemies."
The Demon King of the 6th Heaven regarded him with eyes harder than steel. After a while, he gave a nod.
"Very well. So be it. To honor the time we've fought together and your service to me, I'll let you go his once. Take your men and return to Kai. But remember – very soon I'll come for you. And then, I will take Kai for myself."
"Tch. Just try and get it", Shingen retorted, then pulled his horse around and galloped away, back to his camp, Yukimura closely behind him.
"Was that wise, making an enemy of Nobunaga?", the young warrior asked as they raced through the forest. "He is not for nothing one of the mightiest warlords in Japan. We won't have near enough men."
"Numbers aren't the only thing deciding a battle", Shingen replied. "And Yukimura… you’ve seen what he has done. To what lengths he is willing to go for power. Would you really want to fight at the side of such a man?"
Sanada lowered his head. "No… you're right. I just hope it won't cost us dearly."
Shingen replied nothing. He too was afraid that the price for breaking with Nobunaga was going to be extraordinarily steep. Still, he didn't regret his choice, nor would he want to go back on it.
His heart only wept for he many innocent people who had burned in the inferno.
Author's note: This fanfic is already four years old, but I still wanted to post it here. Am currently going through all my fanfics and getting an overview over it all, so I will keep posting some older fics that I unfortunately never posted after writing them, across all platforms I am on (tumblr, AO3, FF.net...)
