ALERT: Chapter of dark(er) content ahead.
CHAPTER 6 - THE FIVE GUARDIANS
I wake up to the sound of the room door opening. I cannot help it, my sleep has become light since the night of the attack.
Ten and Ruto come in bringing a bucket and what appears to be a change of clothes. I do not need a goddamn change of clothes, I just need my digger overalls, but it looks like this one I'll have to bargain directly with Lory.
After "talking" with Ren.
What the hell he wants to talk to me is beyond my imagination. Probably when he says "talk" he means "interrogation," and that is where my concern rests.
"Oh, you're up!"
I do not know what motivates Ten's smile. What an odd woman...
"Ren told me to bring you food and clothes, so I figured it would not hurt to also provide you with a bath!"
Ren... what?
"Anyway, I know it's not exactly a bath, but here there's water and a cloth for you to clean yourself. I have some oils, too! What fragrance do you prefer?"
Her courtesy is very bizarre. Did not anybody teach this woman the basics?
Stupid question. Of course not. Women are only taught to be friendly, obedient, and good hostesses. Ten simply does not know how to act otherwise, not even in front of someone who has invaded the Clan's palace with an unknown purpose.
Ruto, next to her, just watches me, which starts to make me nervous.
"Sand"
"Hm?"
"I said I prefer sand. No oil. Desert sand, you know? "
"Sand?"
This woman is stupid?
"It's how the nomads clean themselves. In the water shortage, they rub fine sand on the body and then remove it with a cloth"
She looks surprised and asks me if the technique works. I will not explain to her that I am refusing the oil she is offering me for knowing that it would probably be overflowed with essences, which would make me easily traceable by the scent I would exhale for days on end, so I just nod.
She rattles something about experiencing some day and seems genuinely sorry for not having sand to supply me at the moment, but leaves the room promising to return soon with a meal for me.
Ruto keeps staring at me. Maybe he's not good in the head.
I check the change of clothes that Ten brought to me and cursed.
"Damn skirt! What the hell am I going to do with a skirt? "
"Do not you like skirts?"
Oh, so the weirdo can speak more than three words!
"Of course I do not like skirts! Have you ever tried swimming, running, climbing, jumping and crawling with a skirt? "
It's a rhetorical question, so I'm surprised when he answers me.
"No, I've never tried"
Ten returns with a tray and catches me rolling my eyes at Ruto's reply.
"What happened?"
"She does not like skirts"
Holy Nature, the biggest assassin on the planet is an idiot!
"Oh? And why not?"
"Because the only use that skirts have is to facilitate the work of lazy males in heat!"
Ten almost knocks down the tray she carries. I think my comment shocked her.
"Although a woman with a raised skirt can run faster than a man with pants down"
Oh, she was not shocked: she was trying to hold back the laughter.
Ruto looks from me to Ten as if he's lost, which finally makes me laugh: the contradiction between who he is and how he behaves when he does not feel threatened is absolutely comical. Now we're two idiots chuckling, but for different reasons.
"You're the only woman I've heard of wearing pants!"
I bet it does. Men control even what we wear.
"Well, pants have two holes for legs. And legs is something that both men and women have. Therefore, I see no reason not to wear pants if I meet the prerequisites"
Maybe my sarcastic remark was too much for Ten.
"I'll... I'll see what I can do, but I do not think I'll find a pair of pants for you"
Before she reaches the door, however, the sound of astonishment that escapes my throat makes her look back and come across the scene I'm witnessing: Ruto is undressing before us.
###
Kyoko's last expression at me has haunted me since yesterday, when I left her in that room. Now my head throbs and I can barely concentrate on what Yashiro is reporting.
"Lory told me that Kuu is apprehensive about the lack of information and two hours ago this message came from Rick"
I look at the paper in Yashiro's hand and feel the headache increase. I can anticipate the content of the message, which sour my mood.
"Read it to me"
Maybe the message will be less bad if I do not hear Rick's voice in my head.
Yashiro cleared his throat and looked at the paper for a few seconds, mute.
"It's okay, Yashi. Just read it"
"... Dear asshole brother, you should stop acting like a chicken... What is a chicken?"
"Yashi, just finish reading!"
"Dear asshole brother-"
"You've read this part already!"
Sometimes Yashiro is so sadistic that I wonder why he was not the one who received the nickname "Monster".
"... and return soon to your business. Ruriko and Kimiko do not stop whining that they are in the fertile time and you are not here"
Holy shit, every month is the same!
"They remind me of why I married Tina, so I suppose I should be grateful to you, but right now I can only be pissed off at having to put up with their complaints when it's your job to do so. In short, stop pretending dead, I already know that you have not been attacked and I suspect you're just sneaking out of your responsibilities - not that I blame you for not wanting to fuck those two, seriously, they should be labeled as' biological risk 'or something! - and go back to your territory, which is where you belong. Signed Rick, the brother who received all the genes that were worth"
Yashiro must think I do not see the effort he's making not to laugh, while I can only snort, annoyed.
"Well, it's true that we should have come back two days ago"
"There are more important issues to be resolved here"
I know that I am about to enter another discussion of priorities with my Counselor, which makes me take a seat. If we're going to argue, I'd rather be comfortable.
"More important questions? Ren, your elevation to Clan Master has already happened and you remain outside your territory without a special mission that justifies your absence. She is out of danger and Lory has already assured us that he will conduct the issue with the Council and other nobles. In other words, he does not want your interference. He probably noticed how you lose your mind when it comes to her. So what are we still doing here, when there are pending issues waiting for you in Tsuruga territory?"
"My brother is replacing me and-"
"Rick agreed to replace you for one day, nothing more, and yet you keep him away from Hizuri territory!"
"Master Kuu is in Hizuri territory, therefore, I do not see any harm to either party"
"Ren, are you listening to yourself? For six years you have focused only on becoming Master, and now that you have achieved your goal, you seem to make excuses to stay away from your own territory!"
"SHE'S NOT AN EXCUSE!"
Yashiro's perplexed expression is unnecessary when I myself realize my explosion.
"She's not an excuse. I feel... there's something bigger going on, I know that! "
"... Ren, maybe Lory's right to take you away from 'Case K'"
Oh, joy! Now he's defending that cunning old man!
"You're just not thinking straight! Nothing is more important than the continuation of mankind, and if you say otherwise aloud, you are at risk of losing Master's position!"
The fuck is that Yashiro is right.
"You have appointed me Counselor, so here's my advice: go back to your territory. Thus, Rick will be able to return to the territory Hizuri, next to his wife Tina, and Kuu will receive news of you and will be calm. The way the situation is, all you're managing to do here is to be rude to Lory by extending our staying beyond the reasonable, worrying your parents, thwarting Rick and breaking your obligations to your procreators!"
It all comes down to this, after all: while I'm here, Rick will not be trying to impregnate Tina and I will not be trying to impregnate Kimiko and Ruriko.
If they were not daughters of nobles, any other man in my clan could take my place in trying to get them pregnant, but since that would leave their parents fuming and I need their support, the task rests solely with me.
In former times, the situation was different. Not only were their cycles not synchronized, they were not so much interested in me either. Soon it will be two years that they are my procreators and until last year, they did not get as much involved in the task as now.
When I was only an heir to Clan, the two were chasing Rick, the oldest of us and the biggest bet on Kuu's succession as Master of the Hizuri Clan. However, Rick, smart as a few, married Tina before their families could get some agreement with Kuu to get him involved.
Therefore, my brother escaped the sad fate that fell upon me.
None of them made any attempt to disguise their distaste for being designated as procreative for Kuu's youngest son, the Tsuruga Monster. After all, they had come for two years as the procreators of Sho, the sole Fuwa heir, and I seemed a taint in their "curriculum."
Nevertheless, something I must have done correctly, since they began to dispute me, which always put me in the boring situation of setting them apart and preventing one from killing the other.
In recent months, however, the fight has just escalated. The expectation that I would become Master of my own Clan took them by surprise and they came to foresee the possibility of being taken as wives. The two-year term is almost gone, so they do not have much time left to convince me to choose one as a wife and give up the other for the next noble in the line.
Which means that my work with them only tripled, between tricks to seduce me and stratagems to boycott the other.
"Well, if you really insist on staying here, we can delay your return on another day"
It seems that my silent reflection was interpreted as indecision by Yashiro.
"But if this is your decision, in order not to lose the fertile period of either, I shall have to send the two again at the same time to your room"
Oh no, not again! That was a bad idea. The worst I've ever had, actually.
"Well, what a dedicated Clan Master!"
The owner of the voice, more than the sarcasm, makes me freeze.
Yashiro must have the same expression as I: how do we not perceive the presence of Kyoko? How long has she been listening to us?
And what the fuck is going on, for her to be wearing Ruto's clothes?
###
I feel the deepest contempt for the way this world treats women.
Before I even got hold of all the collection the ancestors buried because they considered it "dangerous" works, I was already worried about the subaltern condition destined to us. I mean, to them, since I'm supposed to be a boy, not a woman.
Dangerous works, indeed: a delightful collection of books portraying women in positions they currently do not even think of occupying. Characters that were born in Kyoko and have protected her since: Mio, Natsu, Setsuka and Momiji; along with me, Kuon, we are the five guardians of Kyoko.
It is clear that before the attack we did not exist. Kyoko simply did not know how to face what was happening to her, even because she did not even identify the dangers. She was very young when she was sold - or, as this world calls it, "intended to a family with better conditions to raise her in exchange of a compensation to the biological parents" - to reflect on anything.
In the Fuwa Clan, she learned to read and write, but only enough to understand and recreate recipes. Still, she realized the widespread dislike when she began asking for books about botany and zoology, no matter how much she explained that the interest was merely culinary, for they replied that such knowledge was too much for her.
"Too much knowledge"? How? Is there such a thing as "too much knowledge"?
It was when Kyoko started sneaking through the corridors of Fuwa territory in search of hidden books. Maybe there her future as a Digger was already sealed.
Studying, her performance astonished everyone. They even commented that she had overtaken Taisho, the Clan Chef, but she never thought of him as a threat. Today, thanks to us, she rethinks everything she has seen and lived from six to fourteen years old and is impressed by how stupid she was not to realize she was accumulating rivals everywhere.
Starting with Yayoi. The matriarch Fuwa made a point of saying that she saw her as a daughter and Kyoko believed. In fact, the bitch was just sending a message to the Patriarch...
As Kyoko also did not identify the malice in his eyes whenever he looked at her is another mystery. "Daughter" my ass, she was just a piece of meat slowly maturing.
And Sho, who supposedly loved her? Pffffttt... right, the only thing he ever loved was power, hence the rivalry with his own father. I'll bet the Fuwa heir eagerly awaits the death or retirement of the patriarch to become the Clan Master. If he waits. Maybe he even tried - and failed – some times.
The whole family is rotten.
What did Kyoko expect, resorting to Yayoi after Sho's attack? That she behave like "mother" and take care of her? That she punish Sho for transgression?
It was the precious Sho who secured Yayoi's position as the wife of a Clan Master. Everyone knows that if she did not become pregnant, the patriarch Fuwa would marry Julie, with whom he was enchanted by her beauty and youth. He always liked the new ones, and Yayoi was already in her twenties, while Julie was still sixteen.
Sho's conception assured Yayoi a comfortable, but lonely life. The patriarch was never faithful. With the argument of perpetuation of the human race, since he had managed to impregnate a procreative, he gave up all the others by marrying Yayoi, but made a point of keeping Julie, who only got rid of him when she turned eighteen, at the end of the two-year period that every procreative must comply with the same partner.
Two fucking years is the time that the Council has determined as reasonable to verify the compatibility of the couple in terms of fertility. A real slutting, in my opinion.
Unusually he succeeded in producing a son with Julie, Reino, and because of this he tried to dissolve the marriage with Yayoi to marry Julie, which was vetoed by the Council. He then tried to marry the two, but the Council again vetoed it.
A man may have an indeterminate number of procreators, as long as he respects the term of two years and is able to fornicate with all in the respective fertile periods, but he can have only one wife. It must be that way to prevent the richest Masters from collecting the best "specimens," leaving the remaining Masters with the "leftovers."
Whatever the reason, it is not for the benefit of the woman, I am sure of this.
Fuwa used all the cards he had in an attempt to keep Julie, arguing that he was the first nobleman in decades to produce two heirs, and in fact, this has earned more prestige for the Clan. To the extent that, despite being defeated in the Council votes, he received as a "consolation prize" the possibility of retaining Reino even after losing Julie to the next nobleman in line, Kuu.
It is said that she was not in good condition when she was received as a procreative by the Hizuri Clan. However, if she was not in good condition, Kuu would not have married her almost immediately, right?
The fact is that Yayoi did everything to get rid of Reino. I do not know whether the decision to send him to be raised by Morizumi Clan was hers, to get rid of him, or Fuwa's, to prevent any "unfortunate accident". All I know is that she was finally living the dream of not having any rivals nearby.
Until Kyoko appears.
The pretext was for the girl to be raised to eventually replace the Chef, then thirty years old, but it never occurred to her that it was weird that she was chosen instead of a boy. After all, there are many occupations for men, while for women there is only one, so why waste an employment with her?
Kyoko had to escape alive to start thinking about it, however obvious it was. And if it became obvious to her, it was obvious to Yayoi. Hell, it was obvious to everyone, even to the Masters. Even to an idiot, like Sho, it should be evident that the patriarch was raising Kyoko with the sole purpose in mind of her becoming a procreative. Maybe he had the expectation of Yayoi to do nothing against the girl if his wife became sufficiently fond of Kyoko in the years of forced coexistence. Perhaps he thought his plan was a resounding success when he heard the matriarch claim to see Kyoko as a daughter.
Maybe that was exactly what Yayoi intended when she made the claims. Nothing is more advantageous than an enemy with low guard.
Only Kyoko was naive not to notice. Because she was meant to be just like that.
Because, at that time, none of us existed to alert or protect her.
Over time, when Sho and Kyoko were ten years old, Shoko appeared at the height of her sixteen years. Perhaps the patriarch thought that six years was too long to wait for Kyoko and found, in young Shoko, the perfect distraction. As soon as he saw her, he asked for her as a procreative. He waited four years for her, since there were two nobles in line before him, but from the gossip, I discovered that he should have waited ten years: he simply used the parent's authority to replace the third in line, throwing Sho to the sixth place.
Sho was the youngest noble in history to request a procreative. His luck smiled at him, as Shoko would be available just as he was fourteen, the minimum age for men to enter the sickly circuit of human reproduction, but he was not counting on his father's interference in taking his place.
The maneuver was only discovered when Sho turned fourteen and went to lay claim to Shoko, when he was informed that he was now the sixth in line and would have to wait another six years. Shoko would still go through Rick and Ren before his turn came, and they were the first singles on the list. Either of them could marry her and he would never have the chance to have her.
Not that Sho still wanted to marry her. This could have been his dream at the height of fourteen, but it ended the moment Patriarch Fuwa intruded. Sho would never marry a woman who had shared the bed with his hated father. He could fuck her, but he would never marry her.
The hatred of seeing the patriarch parading daily with Shoko in tow one day found limit: the father took from him what he most craved? Then he would return it in the same coin. His father would know exactly what it is to wait years to receive a prize, only to see it slip through his fingers.
Lucky Kyoko, right? It was not out of lust that Sho attacked her, but out of revenge. And the revenge was not even against her.
As a result of the unhealthy dynamics of Fuwa family, Kyoko was raped. When seeking help in Yayoi, the first person Kyoko thought of, the girl was taken to the patriarch Fuwa, who became furious with his son. Not for the sake of Kyoko, but, in his words, because the boy dared "damage the goods."
The look of regret that Kyoko received was not for the crime that had been committed against her, but that of someone who sees the favorite toy lose its usefulness.
It was with the expression of one who collects the pieces of the favorite vessel that he has doped her and carried her to the limits of his own territory. "Tsk, what a waste!" was the last sentence he told Kyoko, before thrusting the dagger into her.
All this happened hours before I was born. I was the first one to be raised and the one she needed most in the last six years. Nevertheless, I am not the only one: there are four more of us inside her, and together we will give each fucker what they deserve.
We just need to play our cards correctly. And judging by Natsu's smile, it's her turn.
###
"Well, what a dedicated Clan Master!"
Correction: her voice overflows with sarcasm and malice. She smiles in a disturbing way that is almost... erotic?
"Who… are you?"
Then Yashiro also noticed: the woman in front of us does not look anything like yesterday's woman, and I'm not just referring to the fact that she showered and combed her hair, but the posture, the look and the tone of the voice are completely different.
"Oh, do not mind me! Please continue to argue as if I were not present. You were talking about sending two little sheep to the Monster's lair, right? And does it seem like such a thing has been done before?"
Yashiro looks at me as if expecting some indication of how to proceed.
Hell that I know! I do not even know who we're talking to right now!
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, how naughty you are, Ren! How did the ancestors call it, by the way? Oh yes, mènage a trois! "
Her giggle is malicious and sounds like little bells. The only impassive person in the room is Ruto, who...
"Why the fuck are you dressed like a woman?"
Something in the whole situation I need to understand: if the Kyoko of now is a mystery, I want to, at least, unveil how they ended up with the changed clothes.
"She does not like wearing skirts"
Should that tell me something? How the fuck they ended up with one another's clothes is what bothers me!
As I try to process the information, I see her walk over to Ruto and practically throw herself at him. What the hell is going on? How did the situation become so bizarre from one day to the next?
"Well, dear Ruto here was a sweetheart to understand that I do not like skirts, and as Ten did not know if she could find pants for me, he had the chivalry to change clothes with me"
###
She is pressed against him. Ruto stands still, but they seem to look at each other with adoration, while Kyoko absentmindedly plays with a bunch of his hair. It's the first time I see a woman being so thrown in public. The normal thing is that they act seductively only when they want to be married, and in the privacy of the room, never in public.
Wait, is this what Kyoko wants? To be betrothed by Ruto?
I dare to look at Ren and, as I expected, he is pissed, and I do not say it just by the jaw and the fists contracted: when the Monster wakes up, it is by the eyes that I can tell.
Hell, I am his Counselor, and as such, my number one mission is to neutralize threats to the Tsuruga Clan. And at the moment, Kyoko is a huge threat.
Especially if she can play the two biggest killers in the world against each other, as it seems to be about to happen. However, if I attack her, the chances of Ruto, Ren or the two attacking me is enormous, after all, both are more agile than me.
Shit. She's not just playing against each other, but involving me too. Does she know she's about to cause a bloodbath?
If she acts purposeful, the threat she poses is even greater! Only flirting she can weaken the alliance between the Takarada and Tsuruga Clans and perhaps even cause the death of an important member of society, just as the mere existence of her managed to deconstruct the routine of the Takarada, Tsuruga and Hizuri Clans!
She is a weakness for Ren and, as such, a threat to the Tsuruga Clan. She is an Exceptional of unknown abilities and her existence is based on her hatred for the Clans. As much as she is a woman and a potential hope for humanity, my primary job is to protect the Tsuruga Clan.
It's decided: Kyoko needs to be eliminated.
A/N - Mutemuia my dear, your wish is my command: soon I will tell you how Kuon / Kyoko met Maria.
Thank you! XOXO
