She'd only given in because she was lonely. Which she would never admit aloud, but it was true. Ever since Naruto and the other shinobi had arrived three days before, she had felt full and happy. It didn't matter that the end of her reign was approaching fast, or that Chizu had been prowling around the monastery like a caged tiger. Tsuyoi was with Naruto and Kurama most of the time, and Natsukashii was finding her voice as she quadrupled in size and power.
Go get food! Natsukashii was bouncing up and down inside as Tsuyoi and Naruto made their way down the stairwell next to the dining hall.
Why? It's not like you can eat it, Tsuyoi shot back irritably. She was mad at herself for going along with Naruto's ridiculous plan.
If it's so ridiculous, why are you still here? I can do it by myself, ya know. Naruto joined in.
"So you can have all the fun to yourself? Not bloody likely, Hayride," Tsuyoi answered hotly. She stopped moving, pressing her hand against his chest so he wouldn't bump into her. Thanks to her accelerated healing, her arm was already as good as new. "Now I'm going to go in first, and then I'll give you the signal, okay?"
"Right." Naruto nodded. Then he straightened and crossed his arms over his chest, looking smug.
"W-what?" Tsuyoi flushed under his eyes.
"You know this is a good idea. You want to see if there is anyone living here beside you and your patrons, and I want more dangos. We both get we want." He said triumphantly.
"Smart, Naruto. You're a sharp one." Tsuyoi peeked around the corner, the amber light washing over her face. "Okay, I'm going."
"Hurry, my stomach is growling!"
"You just ate!" Tsuyoi shook her head at his eagerness. Naruto may have more experience with some things than she did, but at heart, he was just a kid. Actually, Naruto was older than her by almost a year, but that didn't make the bond that had been steadily growing between them any weaker. Ever since she healed him and their wa had become interconnected, they'd been like the same person in two different bodies. Their stories overlapped each other perfectly; the same pain flowed through their veins. Now all I have to do is overcome my pain like he did. She glanced at him for a moment and felt a faint smile break through her face at his childlike expression.
"Okay, I'm going." Tsuyoi slunk through the wide oak doors of the dining hall, careful not to make the door creak. She vanished inside, heading towards the dull orange candlelight that glowed in the back room, where the kitchens were located.
Don't forget the mission, Naruto chimed in her head. We've gotta get those cinnamon dangos while they are still warm!
That's not the mission, you dolt! We have to see if there are actually people in the monastery beside me and the patrons, orkana.
It's not your mission, you mean.
Tsuyoi sidled up next to the cracked door, her back pressed against the wall. She held her breath, extended her hearing. It was true, Tsuyoi's whole reason for sneaking into the kitchens was to see if there had actually been any other workers or servants inside the monastery. Even though Tsuyoi had not once seen another being inside the monastery, the laundry was always done, the meals always warm, and the building itself was always sparkling clean. At first, she'd suspected that Tomoe and Fukuo had done all the work, but the monastery was too big for them to manage it all alone. But you have seen another person here before...The ghost of a memory she'd buried resurfaced briefly; a broad X drawn across the chest of a bounded man. The burn of her sword in her hand. No! She shut the thought down firmly and again focused on the task at hand. I've tried to use the Dairokkan to locate life forces before, but I have never sensed anything.
I want those dangos, Tsuyoi! Naruto pressed; he must have sensed her hesitation.
I don't want to deal with whatever creepy jutsu or reiki art Chizu uses to keep this place running, Tsuyoi thought back. Maybe this secret is best left a secret.
Tsuyoi, how could you say something like that? We are talking about dangos here! The best food besides ramen on the face of the earth, and you want to turn back? Coward! She could literally feel Naruto waving his arms around like a madman, snorting and carrying on like a deranged cow with a stomachache.
"Okay, calm down, Hayride, I'm going."
"You've said that three times already!"
Naruto went quiet as Tsuyoi laid her hand on the door. Without hesitation, she pushed it open and whipped her manriki-kusari from her back. There was a flash of gray in the candlelight, and she flicked her wrist outward, thrusting one weighted end of the weapon into the air. It wrapped around she guessed was the neck of the intruder, and she jerked her arm back viciously. The gray figure thudded at her feet, the sound reminding her of stone. She looked closer. It was stone.
"Oh, it's just a golem," she said aloud, letting out a breath of relief. She bent down to examine its eyes. They were dark and hollow; there was no reiki inside it. "Chizu must use reiki transfer to power these up when she needs it do something." She mumbled to herself. She ran her hand down its rounded head. "It's very well crafted."
While standing, the golem was probably four feet tall, with a wide head and shoulders and a short yet sturdy body. Liodito's trade was golem-making, thanks to the 6-mile wide clay deposits on the edge of the village. But only people like Tsuyoi, born with the ability to bend reiki could power the golems. To take life energy from the world around them, concentrate it, and then give it away again-that was reiki art, in essence.
"What's a golem?" Naruto asked, suddenly at her shoulder.
Tsuyoi gazed at him for a moment, pouring everything she knew about golems into his head all at once, so she wouldn't have to speak. He winced briefly, then brushed past her to the cooling rack, lined with cinnamon dangos.
"Look, they have ginger-flavored too!" Naruto pointed, beckoning. Tsuyoi rolled her eyes, but she stepped over the fallen golem and joined him.
They sat on the floor, the dangos between them. They ate in silence, savoring the taste of the sweet treats.
"Hey, Tsuyoi, can you breathe fire on the dangos? Mine is cold." Naruto broke the silence, gesturing to the rack and the rows of dangos that remained.
Tsuyoi rolled her eyes again. "You know that's not good for my health, right?"
"What do you mean?"
"Human beings aren't supposed to breathe fire," she said, taking the dango from him. "Eien No Hono. Earth Dragon Eternal Flame," she said, bunching up her cheeks. She felt the familiar burning sensation in her chest. She let it build, then exhaled a stream of fire. She didn't let the flame flow full range, holding the dango stick slightly to the side so it wouldn't burn. "Here," she handed it back to him, her voice slightly hoarse.
Naruto's eyes lit with childlike joy. Tsuyoi couldn't help but smile. I'm glad I can make him happy, she thought, feeling warm. That would be the least I can do, after all the things I've done. The feeling faded.
There was a thought, another flash of memory, that made her gasp and her head swim. It was like lightning had flashed in front of her face, blinding her and muffling her senses. No... she fought back weakly, but there was no hope. She was swamped in her greatest pain, her biggest fear. The memory overtook her.
Eleven-year-old Tsuyoi walked atop the garden wall, placing one bare foot one in front the other. She held her arms out, straight across to maintain her balance. She stared down, concentrating. The urge and heartache of home still tugged, as it had for the five years since her Choosing, but this morning she'd found that the pain wasn't as sharp. She'd stayed quiet at breakfast and snuck out to center herself before training. She didn't want Head Lady Chizu to see any notches in her fighting skill. The old biddy would notice. And Tsuyoi wanted to find the source behind the sudden loss of the ache before that happened.
"Han geoul-emu, watashi wa motto anata o aishte ," she muttered in Lioditan, an old nursery rhyme that her father had taught her when she was little. She paused, waiting for the familiar pang that hit her chest whenever she thought of her old life, but it didn't come. She continued walking in rhythm, "Anata wa watashi o aishi, du geoul-emu, se geoul-emu, ne watashi wa motto anata o aishte," she finished the rhyme.
"Lady Tsuyoi!" Someone called her name. Tsuyoi sharpened her hearing, focusing on the sound. "Lady Tsuyoi!"
It was Head Lady Chizu. She was on the other side of the monastery wall, calling her from the far gardens. It was time to train.
Tsuyoi hopped from the wall, her swords clacking as they brushed together on her back. "Noroi," she muttered. She was glad, at least, that Chizu had let her bring her old swords from the village. When she'd first started learning under her father, the samurai swords had been too long for her, but she'd grown into them about a year ago. Again, she waited for the pang, but there was nothing. She continued through the gardens, feeling her itchy sixth sense creep up her spine.
"Yes, Head Lady Chizu?" Tsuyoi met her patron at the entrance to the garden.
"Come, Tsuyoi. It is time to begin training. I have a new exercise for you today."
An even deeper chill ran up Tsuyoi's back, making her shoulders shudder violently. What is this feeling? Something bad's gonna happen...
"Faster, Tsuyoi."
Tsuyoi's heart started racing. The animal instinct embedded deep inside her screamed to run, but she somehow placed one shaky foot in front of the other, against her will."No," she blurted. "Don't make me!"
Chizu regarded her quizzically. "Don't make you do what?" She feigned ignorance, but Tsuyoi spotted the malice in her eyes. Chizu was excited, even though the old biddy was never excited about anything.
They entered the training courtyard. Tsuyoi wasn't sure when it had started raining, but fat drops rolled down her face. In the center of the courtyard was a bundle of rope and something brown. She sharpened her eyesight and immediately wished she hadn't. It was a man. A man tied down onto stakes with thick, coarse ropes. He was stretched out, arms and legs extended like he was gesturing to the open sky above. Like an invitation of death.
Tsuyoi backed away, covering her mouth with her hands. "N-no..."
Chizu grinned, an expression that can only be compared to a leering lizard. "Now come, Tsuyoi. We must train."
"Don't make me!" She was ready to run, her instincts on the edge.
Chizu grabbed her wrist before she could. "Come along, Tsuyoi." She dragged her across the courtyard towards the man.
"No! No, don't make me! Please!" Tsuyoi screamed, her pleading echoing across the empty sky. Her voice shattered any illusion of normalcy then. Things were never going to be the same again. "Don't make me!"
Chizu halted, pulling Tsuyoi to a stop. She was sobbing now, begging Chizu to let her go, but her pleas fell upon deaf ears. Chizu's hand flashed; Tsuyoi flinched hard, but froze when she felt her patron's hand brush her back. She pulled one of Masashi's samurai swords from the sheath.
Father...The ache was back again, stronger than ever. I want to go home! Somebody help me! Please! Her thoughts were cut short when Chizu slid the hilt into her hand.
Tsuyoi stared blankly. Chizu simply pointed. Tsuyoi turned slowly, going rigid with shock. There was a broad black X etched across the man's chest. He opened his eyes weakly. His irises were a pale liquid green. He was dying, but not yet past the gates of death. He opened his mouth, struggling to speak. He mouthed a few words, but they were too low for Tsuyoi to hear.
"Do your duty, Tsuyoi." Chizu's voice broke through.
"W-what?"
"Kill him."
Tsuyoi's hands started shaking violently, like a leaf caught in a monsoon. '"Why?"
"It is a Dragon Queen duty. You must fulfill it." Chizu extended her hand, and a giant black dragon claw materialized, coating her whole upper arm, tipped with razor sharp claws. "Or you will die." She flicked her wrist closer, pressing a pointed fingertip against Tsuyoi's middle.
Tsuyoi turned back to the man, carefully avoiding Chizu's claws. Acting on a will that wasn't her own, her arms rose shakily, gripping the blade tight. She wasn't sure when it had happened, but everything around her head turned gray. Her brown hands clutched the gray hilt, and rain poured down her face. What am I doing? Wait...!
"Kill him, Tsuyoi!"
"No..." She started hyperventilating. "No..." She pushed back, her arms trembling as she struggled against the phantom pressure.
"Do it, now!"
"No!"
"NOW!"
"NO!" But her hands swung down anyway, against her will, and blood sprayed the courtyard. She'd made her mark. "No..." She sunk to her knees, her brown skin and green hair giving way to gray. Everything was gray, everything was dead. Especially the bounded man, whose now blood mingled with the rain. "No..."
"Stop blubbering, you idiot. You are a queen. Act like it." Chizu stepped past her, robes swishing. "You belong here. You can never go home, now that you have killed. Your friends, Takumi Yamashita and Hiromu Hoshi, will never accept you again."
"I'm sorry...I'm sorry. Please forgive me! Forgive me!" She shouted at the falling rain, and the blood, and Chizu's retreating figure. She cursed her existence. She cursed everything. And she cried. She remembered her friends' faces, brown skin and green hair and bright eyes, and suddenly they were gone. It was from that moment on that her memories left and would play a dangerous game of hide-and-seek with the rest of mind for six more years.
She could feel them leaving. And she cried because she could not remember how to bring them back.
"Wake up, Tsuyoi!" Naruto's voice reached her.
She blinked her eyes open. Surrounded by four white walls that seemed to be endless, she found herself kneeling on the floor. She tried to stand, but her hands and feet were chained to the floor in pulsing white shackles. She suddenly sat straight, eyes wide. Across from her, Naruto was facing her, eyes wide with confusion and concern. Then it hit her.
She was in the White Room, chained. Naruto was here, too. Their yuimaru had brought him here, to this place of torture that existed in her own mind.
"Tsuyoi?"
Instead of answering, she opened her mouth and screamed.
