Samurai Legend

Written by Freedan

Thanks to Hannah, for the seed of the idea.

Chapter 1: Arrival

The sun did little to break the chill hanging in the air as a thick mist hung over the wetlands. The rain the previous night had turned the ground to mush as much as knee deep on the armies of men staring across the swamp at each other. And the poor conditions did nothing to change the minds of those gathered, and two ingenious minds were already reading how they would adapt their plans to the muck that would hinder any form of charge directly toward their foe.

One of these men was Kenshin Uesugi, also known as the Dragon of Echigo, many believe him to be the mortal incarnation of the god of war himself. Dressed in white and clutching his sword in one hand, in the other he lifted a cup of rice-wine, draining it in one swallow before throwing it into the mud by his feet.

"Come, Nemesis…" he growled, leveling his gaze across the field at the target of his ire.

And that target was named Shingen Takeda, also known as the Tiger of Kai. Wearing the bright red armor of his clan, surrounded by his men in the same color, his piercing blue eyes looking out from the mask hiding his face. He held in one hand a war-fan, which he idly tapped against the palm of his other as he returned Kenshin's gaze from across the swamp.

"Well then, God of War," he said, "Shall we begin?"

Shingen raised the war fan and then pointed it forward. With wordless war cries, his men moved around him. The swamp nullified the Takeda's greatest advantage, their legendary cavalry, but he had a plan, and so he sent a relatively small number of men marching forward through the swamp.

Kenshin's men marched forward as well to meet this threat, into the knee-high much.

But it was only a distraction. Kenshin nodded to the man on his left, who quickly sprinted away to deliver the message to the troops waiting in hiding on the northeastern side. Led by the Uesugi retained named Kanetsugu Naoi, they began circling around the east side of the swamp to catch the Takeda's unguarded flank.

But as it turned out, it was not unguarded. Before they were halfway, they were met by a Takeda force led by Yukimura Saneda sent out to intercept the flanking move. The red and white force clashed, even before the forces in the swamp had met.

With a battle cry, Yukimura came at Kanetsugu, the red warrior's spear turned aside at the last second by the sword of the one clad in white, the two's faces coming close as their forces clashed around them.

"Lord Shingen saw through your weak plan," Yukimura said, "And now my brother is about to take your unguarded flank!"

"So you say," Kanetsugu replied, "But perhaps you did not realize that Lord Kenshin already planned for that, and his son, Kagekatsu, is already on his way to intercept your brother."

Distant battle cries and the ring of steel could suddenly be heard from the western side of the swamp as well as Nobuyuki Saneda and Kagekatsu Uesugi discovered each other and their forces clashed.

It was almost a game at this point. So many times had the Uesugi and Takeda clashed, neither one able to strike the finishing blow. And it would be no different today. Eventually both forces would withdraw with neither having sustained any real damage.

Kenshin Uesugi and Shingen Takeda, two geniuses of their time, but even they would not be prepared for the darkness rising in the west…

"…because one man was about to take Japan by storm… Are you even listening?"

I looked up. "Huh? Oh, yeah, totally."

Hannah sighed, getting up from her seat and walking over to my desk and snatched the paper from in front of me before I could react. "Hey, it's not done!" I protested.

"This is what you were doing during that?" Hannah asked, holding it up in front of me.

The sketch wasn't bad. In fact It was good, just missing details on the character's armor and face. "Hey, it's related," I said, "It's that Yukimura guy you were talking about."

"Oh yes, just with fire trailing off his spear," Hannah said, looking at it, and sighed again, "Okay, it does look good. And the fact you draw like this, I've no idea how you failed to get into art school. But you asked me to help with your world history, not art."

I groaned, leaning back in my seat. "I really don't see what's so important about dead guys from a thousand years ago."

"Sengoku Japan was four hundred years ago, thank you, not a thousand," Hannah said, "And you'd think it would be interesting to you if only because it's full of violence and death, just like those video games you play."

I looked at my watch. Aw, crap, it was time to go to work.

"Look, just tell me if you're not going to take this seriously," Hannah said, "Because if you're not, I'd rather not waste my time."

"All right," I said, standing up and grabbing my uniform shirt off the desk to pull it on over my T-shirt, "I'm sorry. I'll take it more seriously. But I have to get to work."

Hannah looked at her watch. "Oh, and I've got class in a little bit," she said, "Okay, tomorrow we'll pick up with Nobunaga. I think that's a guy you'll be interested in."

"I really hope you don't mean that like it sounded," I said as I headed for the door.

She laughed. "Hey, it's your brain that went there," she said, "Although, the Japanese at the time did have a lot in common with the ancient Greeks about that sort of thing…"

I really didn't need to know that. "I'm out," I said, "See you later."

"Don't forget the rent's due next week, Jack!" Hannah said, "Don't you dare blow your half on toys again!"

"Yeah, look who's talking," I muttered, thinking about the absurd number of Pokemon figures in her room.

I should have gone with a dorm room at the college. I thought that every day. I mean, at the time, sharing an apartment with my cousin didn't sound bad. I was expecting more privacy than a dorm would have given me. Fat chance of that happening. Plus I have to work a crappy job to help pay the rent and food.

A job that manages to remind me every day why I hate it. You know, I never thought about the plight of service staff at fast-food places until I'd worked such a job for a couple months. That whole mentality that they're uneducated, worthless people that aren't smart enough to do anything else. Something I picked up in high-school, I guess.

Quite frankly I'm amazed more of them don't get an assault rifle and murder their entire customer base. That thought seemed awfully tempting as I listened to this woman who was complaining about something. I think that her "lightly cooked" pizza calzone was cold in the middle, and all I could think of was how incredibly idiotic she was for not realizing that by cooking it less, it obviously wasn't going to be as hot.

Also didn't help my mood that she had brought back less than a third of the whole thing, having eaten the rest And she wanted a full refund.

I'll admit, I kind of zoned out. I got my manager to handle it, because I'm not even supposed to deal with complaints. Then I'd gotten one of the others to take over the register so I could go to the back and do some prep work. I'd actually calmed down a bit and was feeling better after a few minutes, and was innocently mixing a batch of coleslaw when the manager came back to see me.

"All right, Jack, what's with the attitude?" he demanded.

"What attitude?" I asked.

"Well, according to that customer, you ignored her order, and served it to her cold, and then when she brought it back, you walked away from her," he said.

"I walked away to get you!" I said, "And besides…"

"I don't want to hear it!" he cut me off, "I should fire you, but I'm giving you one last chance. You go, right now. Get rid of the attitude. If you don't shape up when you come back tomorrow, you're going to be fired. Got it?"

"Fine," I said, pulling off my gloves and turning for the door. I just left the coleslaw there, clocked out, and left the building. Looking at my watch, I realized I was only leaving an hour early anyway.

I decided it was best to assume I was going to need a new job fairly soon. That was hardly the first time someone had complained about me, and thanks to that bullshit of "the customer is always right," I wasn't even allowed to defend myself.

I'll say this, I'd never give service staff crap for the rest of my life, having been through this kind of garbage.

Having no place else to go, I simply went back to the apartment. Hannah would be in class for another half-hour, so I'd at least have time to relax for a little bit. As I walked into the building, the receptionist waved to me. "A delivery came for you while you were gone," she said, and placed it on the counter for me.

I knew instantly what it was from the shape of the package. "Thank you," I said, picking it up and heading to the elevator.

I nearly kicked open the door and slammed it behind me, already tearing at the paper wrapping on the package.

Yeah, Hannah would like it, but she didn't have to know how much I spent on this. Ebay was an amazing thing, I thought as I slid the first one out of the package. Oh, man, it was going to look so badass on the wall. Yeah, I might not care much about the people involved in Japanese history, but the weapons were something else. A long, curved blade in a blue sheath. I started to pull it free when I heard the lock on the door click.

Hannah? She wasn't supposed to be home yet! My first thought was to hide the package, but the door was already open as she stepped into the room.

"Jack?" she asked, seeing me by the table, "What are you doing home…" Her eyes went to the package, then to the sword in my hand. "What is this time?" she demanded, any amount of good humor vanishing from her voice.

"Oh, just a wall decoration," I said, holding up the sword.

"A freaking katana?!" she said.

"Oh, come on, it's not like I paid much for it," I said, "It was like fifty bucks for the pair. They're just replicas."

Hannah reached the package and pulled out the second one. This one was in a red sheath. "Wow, that's heavy," she said, "What exactly possessed you to buy something like these?"

Because I thought it would look cool on the wall," I said, and slid the blade of the one I held about an inch from the sheath, revealing steel polished to a mirror sheen, "Like I said, just replicas, probably not even…"

I stopped at the stab of pain in my thumb as I touched the edge, and turned my thumb over. There was a red line there and a small amount of blood welling up.

"…sharp," I finished, staring at the red line on my skin.

"Nice job, genius," Hannah said, "Look, I don't care how cheap they were, you can't keep things like this around here."

"Oh, sure thing, Mom," I said, "You know what, they're staying just because of that. I'm just going to hang them on my wall, and you're going to deal with it.

"Yeah, hang them over the head of your bead, so they can fall and cut your head right off," Hannah said, "I wonder if this one is as sharp…"

As she slid the blade from the sheath, something changed in the air. A humming sound rose as if from nowhere. And the blade in her hands started to glow red. "This thing is getting warm…" she said.

And the other was getting cold in my hands. I looked down to where the blade was exposed and realized it was also glowing, this one a deep blue. And it was still getting colder, almost like ice.

"What the hell did you buy?" Hannah demanded.

The humming was getting louder, and the walls were shaking, the table skidding across the floor.

"Um, I think a tired cliché?" I said.

She was trying to push the blade she held back into the sheath, but it seemed to resist her efforts. And then the world fell apart. The walls moved away from us and the floor dropped out from under us. I heard Hannah scream, and it was suddenly cut off as we hit something hard.

The pain of the landing for a moment kept me from realizing I was wet, and it was raining on me. I pushed myself up, groaning.

"Jack?" Hannah's voice asked, "Are you okay?"

"I think so…" I said, "What happened?"

Thunder cracked overhead. So we were outside in a thunderstorm. That was just great.

"Glowing swords… sudden change of location…" Hannah looked up, "Why does this feel like the start of a bad fan fiction?"

Well, she was reacting with great aplomb at least. What even happened? I stood up, looking around. It was so dark, I couldn't see more than a few feet. I checked the sword in my hands. Though it was still far colder to the touch than it seemed it should be, the glowing had ceased.

"Where are we?" Hannah asked, standing up as well.

"I'm waiting for you to tell me," I said.

Maybe it was lucky, maybe not, but I looked up as lightning flashed, and I saw it in the distance. The silhouettes of men, high on a hill in the distance above us, all on horseback. And below them, at the bottom of a nearly vertical slope, I could see the shapes of tents.

"There are people that way," I said, "Unless you've got a better idea."

"I suppose not," Hannah said, "We need to at least get out of this rain."

We started moving. This seemed utterly crazy, though looking back on it now, I'm actually surprised how well we both reacted. What was going on in my head at that point, I couldn't tell you. I had this strange mix of anxiety and excitement. Something had happened, something completely unexpected, and I had a strange feeling that pushing forward was going to lead to good things.

Oh how wrong I was.

We were closer, and lightning flashed again, and this time Hannah saw them as well. And what happened in that moment, I couldn't believe. The men on top the cliff pushed their horses, and over the edge they went, stampeding down the steep slope toward the camp below.

"They're insane!" Hannah said.

The horses' hooves pounded like thunder, and lightning flashed again, and that was the first time I saw him.

The man at the front of the stampede, in gleaming steel armor, his sword held high over his head. I couldn't make out his face at this distance, but he still stood out from the others so strongly, it was as though there was a powerful aura surrounding him, almost making him glow.

And then the screams started. The horses reached the base of the cliff. Some fell, throwing their riders, but most did not, and they charged directly into the camp, trampling tents and men, swords swinging and striking down others.

"Oh my god," Hannah whispered.

What did we walk into?

Men scattered, screaming in terror. And then I realized some of them were coming directly toward us.

"Oh, god," I said, "Hannah, we have to get out of here!"

We turned, only to see more on the other side of us, running toward the fighting.

"Who are they?" one of the men asked.

"I don't know them," said one of the others.

"They must be with the enemy!" said another still.

And they were drawing swords, moving toward us.

I don't know why I did it, but I pulled the sword in my hands free from its sheath. "Back off!" I said, pointing it toward them.

They charged us, yelling at the tops of their lungs. We were dead. I knew it. I closed my eyes and swung the sword blindly, not really knowing what I hoped to accomplish.

Their cries suddenly cut off as a crackling sound filled the air. I opened my eyes and couldn't believe what I saw. All of them were covered in a thick layer of ice, frozen solid.

"Jack, how did you do that?" Hannah asked.

"I did that?" I asked, completely lost, "I had my eyes closed."

"Are you serious?" Hannah asked, "The sword glowed and then they were covered in ice!"

"Who are you?!" a heavy voice demanded from near us.

No time to relax, obviously. We turned toward it to see a lone man standing there. "You're not one of us, but you attack our enemy," he said, "Identify yourselves!"

"Hey, chill out, pal," I said, "We don't even know what's going on!"

"You're heroes, and that means I can't just let you go free," he said, and ran at us, drawing a pair of swords.

And it was over faster than I could blink. I tried waving the sword again, but nothing happened, and then he was on us, the sword knocked from my hand and knocked flat on my back. Hannah screamed, and light flared, and I couldn't believe my eyes as a jet of flame shot from the sword in her hands, though harmlessly firing into the air.

And then she was disarmed as well. The man hadn't been alone, and more fell upon us.

"Restrain them!" the man ordered them, "Bring them to us once the battle is over!"

I was forced over onto my face in the mud, my hands dragged behind my back in and tied. There were too many of them to fight off. They weren't even finished tying us before I heard someone shouting. "It's a route! The Imagawa are fleeing!"

"Excellent!" the man had replied, "Our lord's plan worked after all!"

"Even better, sir, Yoshimoto has been severely wounded! He's cornered in the canyon!"

"Bring the prisoners! This will all be over in a matter of moments, and I want to be there!" the man said.

Hannah and I were jerked up to our feet. I couldn't see where they were taking us.

"Make room!" the man shouted, pushing through a crowd of gathered men. For the first time I was able to see the men around us and make note of their clothing, or rather, armor made of leather and studded with metal.

"This is that tired cliché," I muttered to Hannah, "I think we've gone back in time."

"Oh, shut up," she replied.

We were dragged to the front of the crowd. I guess this guy wanted to make sure everyone knew we were his prisoners, but when we were able to see what was happening, I was surprised.

It was the man from the front of the cavalry charge. His armor was so different from the others, and looked more like European design while the others around were definitely Asian in origin. And while I'm not one to say it, he was unarguably an incredibly handsome man, with his hair tied up in a tight topknot, and on his face a pencil mustache and triangular beard, now down painstakingly trimmed into those states.

I'd never have the patience to take care of my facial hair like that.

There were two others standing in the small clearing among the men with him. The first was barely on his feet, his back against the rock wall, holding one hand against his side. And the other, a somewhat short, portly man, was holding a sword out toward the one in the shining armor.

"Wait a minute…" Hannah said, "This is familiar for some reason…"

The man in the steel armor walked toward the others, his face utterly expressionless. The one holding the sword, took one step back, holding his sword out. But the other made no effort to go around, or even defend himself, his sword held calmly at his side. And I realized the one holding the sword was shaking. The first was nearly upon him, the tip of the sword only inches from his chest.

And then the most unexpected thing happened. The one holding the sword dropped it, falling to his knees. And the other smiled, walking past him without even looking down.

The wounded man pressed back against the wall. One hand against his side, he lifted the other, and something happened. I couldn't believe my eyes as a ball of flame materialized in his grasp. But the first man was quicker, lifting his own hand, a ball of blackness appearing from his palm, and thrusting his hand forward, the ball becoming a beam that shot across the distance between them and piercing the chest of the other.

The wounded man cried out in agony, and Hannah gasped. The black beam faded, and left a hole in his chest that blood and innards spilled from as he fell to his knees, then onto his face. The hole was visible in his back, the horrific image of blood and organs still there.

"And now all the world will know the name of Nobunaga," the first man said, "Yoshimoto Imagawa is dead."

The gathered crowd raised their weapons and cried their victory.

Oh, god, what had we been dropped into?

We were dragged off and thrown into a tent, our feet bound as well, and told that the lord would decide what to do with us in the morning.

"Hannah?" I asked, "Are you all right?"

"I think so," she said, "What the hell… Those damn swords you bought did this!"

"Like you said, the start of a bad fan fiction," I replied.

"You do realize where we are, don't you?" she asked.

"Not a clue," I said.

"Oh, come on," Hannah said, "That name, the same one I told you earlier this morning! Nobunaga! We're in Fuedal Japan somehow, and now prisoners of one of the most brutal and vicious warlords of the time! Though I'm pretty sure I don't remember anything about people creating fire or beams from their fingers."

"Well, yeah," I said, "Got to admit, that one guy didn't seem too bothered by us shooting ice and fire from those swords either."

"Not to mention they're apparently speaking English instead of Japanese, and on top of that, the man Nobunaga killed, Yoshimoto Imagawa. He should have said the name the other way, Imagawa Yoshimoto. In Japan, the family name comes first."

"Maybe it's for the convenience of an English speaking audience," I said, "Like us."

She shot me a glare.

"Okay, look, if those swords bought us here, maybe they can get us back home," Hannah said, then sighed, "Assuming we live long enough to find out."

"You don't think they're going to kill us, do you?" I asked.

"This is Nobunaga we're talking about," Hannah said, "He's a guy that, after they surrendered, lined up all the leaders of a clan that opposed him and killed them via firing squad."

"Oh, god damn," I muttered.

"If you actually read any history, you'd know this stuff," Hannah said, "That man is a monster."

"Only one thing, then," I said, and pulled against my bonds. But they were too tight, and the ropes just burned against my wrists.

"Even if you get loose, we don't know where they put those swords," Hannah said, "We're better off just waiting until morning. If we can convince Nobunaga about it, maybe he'll let us go home."

"And what's to stop him from killing us like he did that other guy just to keep the swords for himself?" I asked.

"I don't know!" Hannah said, "Just… let me do the talking, okay?"

It was a long night, and when morning did come, I'd not managed to sleep a bit. I think the reality of the situation was sinking in, and I found myself shivering, and not from the cold.

The storm ended, and at some point, I don't know how long we'd lain there when the tent flap opened, sunlight falling over us. Men came in, picking us up and cutting the ropes from our ankles and pushed us out into the open. And waiting there for us was the man who had attacked us just last night.

Now that I had a clear look at him, he was a large man, with a thick full beard, but a receding hairline. He was massively muscular, and his skin was deeply suntanned.

"You're coming with me," he said, and turned to start walking.

We were pushed along by the other men there. They marched us through the camp, surrounded by other men, who were busy pulling down tents and saddling horses. It looked like they were getting ready to move out.

We were ushered into a small enclosure. There was no roof, but walls of cloth had been put up, and the ground covered with padding. At the far end was a seat. There were only three people in the "room." One was a youth on his knees beside the seat, a drawn sword resting on his knees. In the seat was the man from last night, Nobunaga. And finally, the third was the portly man that had dropped his sword when Nobunaga stared him down. He was on his knees in front of the seat, his eyes on the ground in front of him.

"Stop," said the man escorting us, holding us at the entrance.

"Failing to protect your lord, Takechiyo," Nobunaga was saying, "A very grievous offence, had that lord survived. Though I suppose you knew he was not going to survive at that point."

"I'm afraid it was nothing so devious as that," replied the other, "Even with the tip of my blade pointed at you, Lord Nobunaga, the only thing I could think of was our childhood together."

He lifted his head, looking Nobunaga in the eye. "Do you laugh at me now, my lord? For being too weak to bear my burden?"

Nobunaga smiled, and rose to his feet, stepping toward the other and looking down at his face. "I would never laugh at you," he said, "For I know, though you may be in tears with the effort, there is no burden too great for you to bear, if that burden is worth bearing. Your clan were little better than slaves under the Imagawa. Now is the time to grasp the future, and decide the best course for yourself, Takechiyo."

"I believe I understand, my lord," Takechiyo said.

Nobunaga smiled, offering his hand to Takechiyo, and helped him to his feet.

"Though I must let you know, I have not been Takechiyo in years," he said, "When I came of age, my name became Motoyasu Matsudaira."

"Very well, Motoyasu," Nobunaga said, and gestured to the group standing by the entrance, "I'm afraid I do not have time to reminisce about the old days now, but when next we meet, we must trade stories of what became of us after parting ways. You are free to go"

"Yes, my lord," Motoyasu said, "And I thank you for your mercy."

He turned away from Nobunaga and walked past us, to a waiting horse. Nogunaga returned to his seat and motioned toward us. We were pushed into the enclosure and forced onto our knees on the mats in front of Nobunaga.

"Such strange clothes they wear," Nobunaga said, looking down at us, "What have you brought me, Katsuie?

"They are not Imagawa, my lord," the other, Katsuie said, "But I do not recognize the clan crest on this one."

He pointed at the company logo on my shirt, making me realize I was still wearing my uniform from work.

"Hmm," Nobunaga leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand as he looked at us, "I don't believe they're from any clan. You, the boy, from where do you hail?"

He was talking to me, I realized. "Um.., the city of Los Angeles?" I said.

"That doesn't exist yet, you idiot," Hannah hissed at me.

Nobunaga glanced at her, but responded, "I am not familiar. You are from a far away land, then?"

"Very far," I said.

"And you are the same?" Nobunaga asked, looking at Hannah.

"Yes, my lord," she said, "I am his cousin."

"Ah, kin, that makes more sense," Nobunaga said, "Now, Katsuie tells me the two of you are heroes…"

"Oh, no, sir, nothing of the sort," Hannah said.

"Don't lie, girl!" Katsuie said, "You possess the powers of a hero, and proved that when you shot fire at me last night. And the boy froze a group of Imagawa solid in ice."

"That was just the swords, sir, not us," Hannah said.

"You expect me to believe a sword can possess such magic?" Katsuie said.

Nobunaga held up a hand to silence him. "Bring their weapons," he said, "I wish to see this."

The swords, in the red and blue sheaths, were brought and laid on the ground in front of Nobunaga.

"So, you claim these weapons possess the power you showed, and not you yourselves," he said, and reached down to grasp the hilt of one.

I never expected what happened next. Nobunaga screamed, and trails of electricity shot across his body as he was thrown back, his seat tipping over. The youth at his side moved for the first time, jumping up, raising his sword and inserting himself between Nobunaga and the rest of us.

"Hold, Ranmaru!" Nobunaga said, slowly picking himself up, "It's not their fault."

"Ranmaru?" Hannah whispered beside me, "But he shouldn't even be born yet…"

"Are you all right, my lord?" Katsuie asked, moving to help Nobunaga up.

"It seems they are not lying," Nobunaga said, "The swords are somehow enchanted. But even so… I want to see something. Cut their hands free and let them pick up the swords."

"But my lord, in your presence…" Katsuie protested.

"I have all the protection I need," Nobunaga said, looking toward Ranmaru, where he returned to his position on his knees, with his sword waiting and ready.

Our hands were cut free. "I guess we do as he says," Hannah said. We moved forward and picked up the swords. I held the blue one sword and she the red. And if this worked like before, all we had to do was draw them to go home.

"Draw them out," Nobunaga said.

I pulled the blade from the sheath, the weapon again growing unnaturally cold in my hand. As I pulled it out, there was a crackle as a sheen of ice appeared over the blade, then crumbled away from the steel onto the ground. Hannah's was a bit more dramatic, a wave of fire leaping across the blade before dissipating into the air.

But nothing else happened. I had hoped they would send us back home, but it seemed that wasn't going to be so easy.

"Katsuie, what do you think?" Nobunaga asked, seating himself again in front of us.

"It seems none but the master of these blades can wield them," Katsuie said, "I am no expert on the subject, however."

"And you said they were easy to capture," Nobunaga said.

"Yes, lord, they barely even put up a fight," Katsuie said, "In fact, I'd say they are rank amateurs."

"I have one final question for the two of you," Nobunaga said, not taking his gaze from us, "How did you come here."

"We don't exactly know," Hannah said, "When we drew these swords, they brought us here."

"Is that so?" Nobunaga asked, "I suppose that will suffice for now. It also means you don't know how to return to your home, correct?"

"Yes, lord," Hannah said.

"Hmm," Nobunaga rubbed his chin, "Unaffiliated heroes are very valuable commodity, even if they are inexperienced. Very well, I have decided. You will come with us, back to Owari. I want to see what you are capable of. I can't let you fall into another clan's hands to be used against me, after all."

"But my lord…" Hannah started to protest.

"Or I can have you executed now," Nobunaga said, "Your choice."

Hannah looked helplessly at me. It wasn't much of a choice, obviously, so there was only one response I could give.

"How's the weather in Owari?"