Prompt #08
008. Danger danger => Nobunaga/Cao Cao
Oda Nobunaga had always loved danger.
And Cao Mengde was the embodiment of the word.
The first time Nobunaga had seen him; the other man was racing across the battlefield, shoulder to shoulder with his generals, completely indifferent towards his personal safety. Instead, he was swinging his sword expertly in the middle of the mayhem, leaving a trail of carnage behind him. As Nobunaga sat on top of his mount and observed, something stirred within him.
The next time Nobunaga had seen him, the man was offering him a cup of rice wine to toast to their success in the recent campaign against Orochi. He had that polite smile fixed on his sharp featured face, one that gave absolutely nothing away. Nobunaga accepted the cup with a small bow. Their hands touched and that stirring sensation became a curious irregular thump.
The third time Nobunaga came into contact with him, they were standing back to back in the middle of the bloodiest battlefield he could remember. The other man threw his head back and laughed in the face of the enemy who had them outnumbered and surrounded, before turning to him with eyes that were lit by a fire so strong that it almost burned. That almost steady thump turned into an outright revolt.
When they stood side by side in the aftermath of Orochi’s defeat, Nu Wa’s unspoken question echoing in the air between them, Nobunaga met Cao Cao’s eyes and was pleased to see that the fire wasn’t burnt out, instead, it was merely banked. As they walked away, shoulders brushing, Nobunaga wondered what it would take to stoke that fire into a roaring inferno.
In the end, Cao Mengde just might prove to be the risk that Oda Nobunaga would give everything to take.