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Dark Waters
Chapter 12 - Unlucky Thirteen
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Inside a cavernous dark room, hidden in the underground of an abandoned clan district, twelve figures sat on a long table, the only light source being the flickering flames of some candles scattered around the chamber, casting shadows over the room's occupants and hiding their faces from each other. The silence was tense while the twelve waited for the last members to join them.
"They are late," someone growled from the right. Murmurs of agreement sounded around the table, quickly falling silent when another voice spoke.
"They will come," a young man sitting at the head of the table spoke, his voice quiet, but still demanding to be heard.
There was more uneasy shifting among the dark figures.
"I mean no disrespect, but… I've been hearing rumors about some of Suikazan's more... shady activities..." a blue-haired man with equally blue eyes began uneasily, only to be interrupted.
"And what nasty little rumors have you been hearing about me, Ao-san?"
As one, eleven heads snapped to look at the man standing over the open door, letting a big stream of light from the torches outside enter the room.
"Close the door you idiot!" someone hissed.
"Oh? You need not to worry. I made sure I wasn't being followed. Hiyasu-sama didn't even notice my absence."
"What did you tell him?" a female voice asked, curious.
Fuguki Suikazan smirked, dangerously sharp teeth gleaming in the darkness.
"I told him I was going to see my apprentice, congratulate him for surviving the Exam."
At once, most of the occupants in the room stiffened at the casual mention of Kiri's Graduation Exam, some of them shrinking a little in their seats while others cursed in low tones.
"Have you covered your tracks?" the same quiet voice from before asked the swordman.
"Of course I have. I really did pay a visit to Kisame, that's why I got here so late" Fuguki explained, walking inside the room and closing the door behind him as he went, engulfing the chamber in darkness once more.
"And where is your partner? Sina or something?" someone asked.
At once, Fuguki's face darkened. "Dead. She and most of her team were killed during a mission outside the village five days ago. Coincidentally, her only surviving teammate died yesterday, falling down the stairs."
A incredulous snort came from the blue-haired man, Ao. "The day a ninja dies by falling down a flight of stairs will be the day the Five Great Shinobi Villages fight together. Have you managed to get the information we need?" he asked harshly, glaring at Suikazan.
"Of course, of course. It was a piece of cake, really. Hiyasu is so out of it these days that he didn't even notice when I switched the folders."
"Are you certain that he didn't notice? For all we know he could be faking it," Ao said, his hand twitching with the need to grasp his senbons for protection.
Fuguki pondered over the other man's observation for a second. "A valid argument, I suppose, though rather doubtful. You see, if Hiyasu knew what I was doing, we would all be surrounded by hunter-nin in 3... 2... 1..."
Silence.
The big swordsman looked around the room, grinning widely. "Well, would you look at that! We are all still alive!"
Ao snarled, shooting up from his chair so abruptly that it almost fell back. "Do you think this is a joke, you-"
"Ao, Fuguki. Sit down both of you."
The order, nothing more than a whisper, really, made the two men stop to look at the one sitting at the head of the table.
Izumi Yagura was a short man. Many people thought of him as a young teenager no older than fifteen, and his youthful appearance didn't help matters. However, every time he spoke, it wasn't the cracked voice of a teenager boy still going through puberty that comes out of his mouth. It's the voice of a strong man, a powerful ninja, that was not accustomed to be ignored or questioned.
When Izumi Yagura speaks, people stop to listen.
And that's why Mizu no Ao and Suikazan Fuguki, formidable shinobi in their own right, obeyed Yagura's whispered order with no complaints. The only thing Kiri respects is strength, and no one could deny that Yagura Izumi was strong.
But was he powerful enough to be Mizukage?
Well, that was why they were all there, right? Because all the people inside that room believed that the answer to that question was 'yes'.
Ao and Fuguki sat in their respective seats across from each other, still glaring, but silenced. It was obvious that there was no love lost between them.
"The folder, Fuguki-san, please" Yagura asked, hand reaching out for said object.
The swordsman slipped his hands inside his coat, ignoring the way most of the room tensed at the seemingly innocent action, before taking out a yellow folder, which he dropped in the pink-eyed man's open hand."Here it is. Though I still wonder why we need that type of information."
Yagura ignored the implied question and instead opened the yellow paste so that he could read the documents inside it. It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for.
NAME: IZUMI, KURAI
ACADEMY GRADUATION AGE: 7 YEARS
RANK: GENNIN
FAMILY: (FATHER) IZUMI, YAGURA. (MOTHER) UNKNOWN
BLOOD TYPE: AB
He flipped through all the information he already knew, like hair color, eye color, weight, height until he arrived at the last page.
ACADEMY GRADUATION EXAMS SCORES
WRITTEN TEST: 100%
PHYSICAL TEST: OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN THE FIELD. SHOWS PROWESS IN TAIJUTSU AND WEAPONRY. MAY DISPLAY SKILL IN HANDLING SHORT SWORDS IN THE FUTURE.
Yagura's eyes narrowed dangerously at the last part.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: SHOWS VERY LITTLE HESITANCE IN KILLING HER FELLOW COMRADES. DAUGHTER OF A KNOWN SPY AND A SUSPECTED TRAITOR. MAY HAVE TO BE PUT UNDER SURVEILLANCE. HAS POTENTIAL AS A FUTURE HUNTER-NIN.
MAY BECOME THE SANDAIME MIZUKAGE'S NEW APPRENTICE.
TEAM ARRANGEMENT
TEAMMATES: HOZUKI, TETSU. KAGUYA, UMI
JOUNIN SENSEI: KAGUYA, HIORI
"This," Yagura began, turning the paper so that everyone in the room could see. "Is why we need this informartion, Fuguki-san."
There was a moment of silence.
"So..." someone in the back started apprehensively. "You wanted the folder so you could see how well your kid went in the Exam?"
Yagura refrained from burrowing his face in his hands, and from the corner of his eyes saw that Ao had no such reservations, and instead was glaring disdanfully at the person who had spoken.
"No" the pink-eyed man spoke in a long-suffering voice. "If you look closely at the last page you will notice the team arragement. See here, how my daughter was put in a team sorely composed of Hiyasu's trusted shinobi? Two members of his own clan, and a third one from an ally family. It's no secret that the Hozuki and Kaguya have helped each other for generations."
Yagura continued, at the same time handing out all the other documents inside the yellow folder. "Take a look at other graduates with the same scores of my daughter. All of them were placed in similar teams, with at least one member loyal to the Sandaime."
"You're right..." a woman whispered, slightly horrified, as she looked at one of the documents.
"You may also note that none of you were nominated as jounin instructors, despite applying for the position more than once throught out the year"
"That's right! They told me I didn't pass the psychological exam! Bullshit! If I didn't pass, then how in the name of Kami Kaguya Hiori did?! The guy's a fucking nutjob!"
More angry murmurs of agreement sounded inside the chamber, men and women shaking their heads in disgust.
"What can we do?" a woman with a severe expression asked the room, thin eyebrows furrowed in deep thought.
Yagura's lips quirked up at the question in a half-smirk.
"We just have to do some little... auterations."
"Auterations, Yagura-san? And how do you suppose we do that?" the amused voice of Fuguki asked him, eyes twinkling in a slightly sadistic sort of humor.
"Very simple, Fuguki-san," the pink-eyed man retorted, snatching his daughter's papers away from Suikazan's wandering hands.
Carefully, very carefully, Yagura began to copy the original paper into a new one, his deft fingers not straying once from their task, until he paused and presented the forged new document to the room's occupants.
NAME: IZUMI, KURAI
ACADEMY GRADUATION AGE: 7 YEARS
RANK: GENNIN
...
ACADEMY GRADUATION EXAMS SCORES
...
ADDITIONAL NOTES: SHOWS VERY LITTLE HESITANCE IN KILLING HER FELLOW COMRADES. MAY PROVE USEFULL IN THE HUNTER-NIN DIVISION.
HAS POTENTIAL TO BECOME A HUNTER-NIN'S APPRENTICE
TEAM ARRANGEMENT
TEAMMATES: HOSHIGAKI, KISAME. WAZASHI AKIHIRO
JOUNIN SENSEI: MIZU NO AO
"Ehee...? You put me as their jounin sensei?!" Ao may have had yelped, if it wasn't beneath him to do such a thing. However, there was no denying the slight hint of hysteria in his voice.
The blue-haired hunter-nin soon found himself being subjected to a cold stare coming from the shorter man. "Do you have any problems with it?"
Ao couldn't have shaken his head fast enough.
"Wait a moment there Yagura-san. You put my apprentice in there. Shouldn't I be the one to teach the brats then?"
Yagura sent him a deadpanned expression. "I barely trust you to keep one of them alive. I certainly won't count on you to keep all of them from being killed"
Snickers broke out all around the room at the baffled expression on the swordsman's face. Dismissing the laugher, Yagura continued to speak to Fuguki.
"I want you to give this folder to Fumuki Keiko, in the administrative section. Make sure to tell her what she must do with these papers. I want every gennin team with at least one of us in it."
After receiving a nod of ankownledgement from the Suikazan, the grey-haired man turned his gaze to the rest of the table.
"As for the rest of you, continue to act normally. Don't give anyone any reasons to doubt your loyalties. We are too close to win this to make mistakes now. Before this war is over, Kirigakure will be free of Hiyasu for good."
Muted cheers answered his declaration, as everyone began to leave the room.
"Fuguki-san, stay. The rest can go now."
Slowly, the shinobi got out, some looking back to glare suspiciously at the Suikazan, until both him and Yagura were alone.
"So, what do you want Yagura-san?" Fuguki asked, placing his boots atop the battle, unconcerned by Yagura's glare at the impropriety of his actions.
Sighing tiredly, the pink-eyed man turned to stare at one of the room's candles. There was a beat of silence before he spoke again.
"Almost five years ago, I went to you in order to ask your help to find a woman. Do you remember that?"
The swordsman furrowed his brow in thought. "Hai… We spent more than a year trying to find her… What was her name again? Yukimura Shiha? Shion? Yukimura something…."
Yagura cut him off "I want you to search for her again."
Fuguki stared at the smaller man. "…I searched for her Yagura-san. And I found… nothing. It's like she's a ghost. Whoever Yukimura was, she's gone. I doubt we will ever see her again."
He stood up. "I will follow your orders Yagura-san, but I suggest you forget about her. As I said, we've searched everywhere-"
"There is one place you haven't searched yet."
He paused, before asking carefully "And where is that?"
Pink eyes stared straight ahead, blank and emotionless.
"Konohaguke no Sato."
A small gasp left Fuguki's mouth, sounding profanely loud in the sudden silence that had befallen the dark room. He cleared his suddenly dry throat, thoughts swimming chaotically in his head.
"… I see. Well then, best to go contact my spies in the Land of Fire"
With that said, the member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist fled the room as fast as his massive form allowed, Samehada whining in his ear.
Yagura was left alone to his thoughts, before his eyes once more drifted to stare at the candle's flame.
The room was dark save from the light coming from the fireplace of his living room, the fire casting shadows around the room and an orange glow upon the person lying on the ground in front of the hearth.
A beautiful woman was sprawled across the white sheets from his bed that were put on the ground, as naked as the day she was born, dark waves of hair framing her pale face with unblemished skin. Onyx eyes gleamed with lust and desire as she stared at him.
He didn't remember taking off his clothes, nor did he remember moving, but soon he was as naked as the young woman in front of him, and his body covered hers. He claimed her lips in a hungry and fiery kiss, wanting to possess her, to taste her, to brand her as his, and to never, ever let her go.
She broke out of the kiss, panting for air as he proceed to trail hot open-mouthed kisses down her jaw and all over her collarbone, feeling hands on his back, scraping him with her blunt nails.
A half whispered, half shouted name rang clear in the room.
"Yagura…"
He opened his eyes,
Just a dream.
No, a memory.
His first clenched.
A fucking nightmare.
"Shisui."
The last candle went out inside the large chamber, leaving him in complete darkness with only his memories to keep him company.
"Promise me you will never stop loving me?" she asked a little shyly, her hand grasping his in a tight grip.
Pink pupiless eyes stared at her in plain amusement.
"Of course I will love you. We will stay together, till the end. Ne, Shisui-chan?"
"...Hn. Hai. We will stay together. I promise you Yagura."
"Lying bitch..." the pink-eyed man whispered mirthlessly, with a self-deprecating smile on his face. "But then, I was the bigger fool for believing in you, wasn't I?"
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Kurai finally arrived home from the hospital hours later, having said her goodbyes to Kisame and a still-unconcious Takara. Immediately, she searched for her Father's chakra and was surprised when, upon following the trail, she found him training inside their dojo, wielding what appeared to be a large, hook-ended staff with one end being larger than the other. She could also see a very big green flower located on the larger end.
When no order to go away came, she sat on the ground with her back to one of the walls, watching intently the way her Father twirled gracefully around, his weird staff-hook-thingy (what is the name of that thing?!) expertly slashed the air around him.
After more than ten more minutes of seeing her Father train, he finally ended with an elegant flick of his staff. Kurai watched as he sighed tiredly, sweat having seeped into his casual green clothes and his hair wet falling down on his brow. He looked at her before passing a hand over his forehead and making his way over.
He sat by her side, closing his eyes and leaning heavily against the wall. Still, Kurai didn't speak nor move. After a minute or so of mutual silence he opened his left eye half-way to peer at her curiously.
"No questions? I'm surprised. I assumed you would have hundreds by now."
Kurai nodded calmly. "I do. But I think I only want one of them to be answered."
Yagura gave her a half-smile. "Let me guess. Why didn't I tell you?"
Again, she nodded, calmly. There was no resentment inside Kurai, no anger or hurt. If her Father decided that it was best she remained in the dark about certain matters than she would be. She wouldn't question him again if he refused to answer her. She would never disobey him.
Never.
Fortunately for her curiosity, Yagura seemed willing to indulge her questions.
"Many years ago, the Sandaime created the current exam as a new way to create more powerful and loyal shinobi. In a twisted way, it did make a little of sense. One must have skill to survive a massacre like the one the Academy students were forced to participate in. At the same time, the way classmates are put against each other in a life or death situation, causes them to realize how their lives will be from then on. It forces them to choose what is more important. Their carrer... or their best friend's life?"
Kurai listened to her Father with wide eyes, trying to understand his words.
"Let me make it more clear. Picture it this way. You are in a mission, with only one other as your teammate, that also happens to be your friend. While on the mission, you discover that your teammate has been selling village secrets to our enemies and has become a traitor, planning on defecting from Kiri. Would you be able to kill your friend, your teammate? Of course not. You would be unwilling, would hesitate, and ultimately would let him get away. But what if you had been forced to kill your comrades before? Would it be easier then? Would you be able to do it then?"
"The answer to that is, 'yes'. You already had to do it once before to save your own life, why would you hesitate now? Of course, it has more repercussions to it than only that, but for now, it's all you need to know."
Kurai nodded pensivally, her young mind trying to grasp the reason behind such a horrific Graduation Exam.
"Still," she asked. "Someone must have spoken something. I mean, children died. Surely their parents are going to notice their absence and tell other people?"
"They would, if they had been allowed to. The Mizukage is not a stupid man, no matter how he acts around others. He knows that no child would enlist in the Academy if they knew what they would be subjected to. So he made a law, saying that no adult was allowed to speak about the Graduation Exam to the children. Their parents doesn't have the right to forbid them to enter the Academy, so they can't stop them from becoming shinobi. To make sure that no one would disobey this new law, some of the people who were the most vocal against this new development... disappeared," he finished nonchalantly.
"How many people died before they learned to keep their mouths shut?" Kurai asked equally idly, staring at the cellar.
"Oh, no one died. They just went in a... forced vacation to the dungeons of T&I. Some of them must have really liked it down there because they never came back. But no, they are all quite alive still."
Kurai didn't know what was worse. The thought of dying after being horrifically tortured, or the thought of spending the rest of her life in a tiny, cramped cell, forgotten and abandoned, never to see sunlight again.
"Otou-sama...those exams... did you have to do it?"
Her tone wasn't as nonchalant as before. Now there was a graviness in her voice that even a deaf man would hear it. Her Father stayed silent for a long moment until he sighed tiredly and faced her.
"The Sandaime created these Exam during my final year at the Academy. My class was one of the firsts to be subimited to it. I remember that day clearly. It was raining that morning, when our teacher guided us towards an abandoned arena, like the sky itself was crying for what was about to happen."
Yagura's pink eyes became glazed as he stared at something in the distance, lost in memories.
"When the Mizukage told us what we had to do, many thought it was a joke. Hiyasu though, made sure to explain to us what would happen if we refused to kill each other. He had our sensei kill three of the protesting children, and after that no one tried to refuse anymore. After that there was only chaos. My best friend tried to kill me. In the end, twelve children out of a hundred and twenty survived, me included."
Kurai remained silent, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that her Father's graduation class had had it much worse than hers. It was a bit difficult to imagine the massacre her Father lived through.
That only made her admire him even more. Her Father was strong enough to survive a slaughter that, by Kurai's understanding, had been ten times worse than what she had to go through.
It filled her with pride. Her Father was so strong!
But..
Hesitantly, she asked "What happened to him? Your best friend?"
Yagura looked at her sharply, twin pink orbs staring deep into mirros of it's own, before he blinked.
"He tried to gut me. I gutted him."
Well, that answered her question.
"I learned four things that day. One, people will do unspeakable things to ensure their own survival. Two, never trust anyone. Not your friends, not your teammates, not your lovers, not even family. Better to have them at arm's length, just to be on the safe side."
Kurai nodded distractly, agreeing without thought. It did make sense after all. She would trust her Father with her life, but she held no illusions that he would sacrifice her if it meant his and their village's survival.
"Three, don't hesitate. Because your oppenent surely won't. If you falter, if you wait a second too long, you're as good as dead. And finally," Yagura got up from his position on the floor, discarding his tattered and sweaty mesh shirt as he went, displaying a pale chest with defined muscles that only a seasoned shinobi can acquire after years of training and battles for his life, as the small and almost invisible scars on his body could attest for. "Never give your back for your enemy, unless you know for certain that they are dead."
Her Father turned then, giving her a clear vision of his back for the first time and Kurai had to swallow back a shocked gasp. Yagura's back was riddled with scars, all of them old and small, easily dismissed.
All of them but one, the biggest of them all.
It was like someone had tried to slash her Father's back with a flaming sword, for there were old burn marks around the large, red scar, which began from his left shoulder and went all the way down to his waist, ending near his right hip.
It was a miracle he survived. A miracle he could move the way he did with that kind of wound, because there was no way that that didn`t hinder him from time to time. No wonder her Father always insisted in having his morning stretches. He had to try to minimize any pain before attempting to train.
How strong your will had to be to continue to be a shinobi with such a debilitating wound?
How strong her Father really was?
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Kurai stood in front of the mirror in her room. She was wearing a mesh undershirt with a sleeveless red t-shirt over it, her left arm covered with white bandages, hiding some of the scars she got from the Exam. Kurai was by no means, vain, but some of those scars were still healing, so it was best to keep them under wrap. No need to show weakness to the vultures. Apart from that, she used black pants with a simple dark green sash tied around her waist, coinceiling her red and blue dagger.
In her hands, a blue Kiri headband stood, the silver platter gleaming proudly in the light.
One of the medic-nins had shoved it in her hands before she left the arena, quickly congratulated her for graduating (surviving) and then went to try and save the wounded who were still alive.
She hadn't worn it yet. A part of her didn't want to. It was the same past that wanted to find the deepest and darkest pit in all of Mizu no Kuni and hurl the offending object in her hands in it.
She looked at the mirror, and before she could think, pink eyes turned a demonic red, three black tomoes lazily spinning in total. One in her left eye, other two in her right one.
She had been training it a little, after her Father gave her his consent. After all, if she wanted to hide her kekkei genkai, she needed to learn how to control it. She always trained alone in their dojo, and only during the night, between the late hours before dawn, so no one would see, no one would know. Her Father never stayed around to watch. He didn't want to.
Kurai couldn't blame him, really. Her Sharingan must remind him of her mother, and it was very obvious to the young girl that her Father didn't appreciate being reminded of her. Kurai often wondered what had happened between her parents, and if she really wanted to know. Somethings were best left in the dark, she would thought.
And her Sharingan was definitely one of those things.
Still, it was a part of her... The only thing the mother she never knew gave to her...
It was during these hours, these stolen hours between the darkeness of the night and the first rays of sunshine from the morning, that Kurai felt close to her mother. The woman she never knew, the woman who gave birth to her, who abandoned her and her Father.
The mother Kurai never had the chance to love.
Slowly, her Sharingan disappeared, and more familiar pink pupiless orbs stared back at her from the mirror.
In her neck, the blue Kiri headband stood, like a dog's leash.
But Kurai knew that that leash would be one she would break easily enough, if it came to that.
She was loyal to Yagura, and only Yagura.
Wearing her village's headband didn't change that fact.
.
.
Hours later, Kurai found herself inside her classroom in the Academy, trying to dislodge a snoring Mei off her shoulder.
Finally fed up, after almost five minutes of trying to shrug the girl off, she turned to Kisame, who was right behind her.
"Get her off" she almost hissed at him.
Kisame grinned evilly, showing off sharp teeth. "With pleasure," he almost purred, clearly fantasizing the ways he could wake Mei up most unpleasantly.
A loud sigh interrupted them.
"Really you two. Let me" Takara said, reaching a hand inside her short's pockets and fishing out a bar of-
"Is that chocolate?!" Kisame yelped from his seat.
Both Kurai and Takara sent him startled looks, the latter turning to look down at the innocently wrapped sweet. "...Yes?..."
The boy gaped. "How did you get your hands on that?! Only the rich have access to chocolate in Kiri! Do you know how expensive it is?"
Again, Takara looked at him, completely baffled. "...Very expensive?..."
"That thing is like god's ambrosia to us, street kids! I thought your family was poor, as in, almost-starving poor! How did you managed to convice your parents to buy it for you?!"
Not at all subtly, Kurai whacked Kisame's head, inwhardly lamenting the boy's total lack of sensibility. He hadn't mean to offend Takara and her family calling them poor, and wasn't she glad that Takara knew that? But still, other people wouldn't like Kisame pointing out those facts out loud, even if they were true...
Takara only smiled. "My parents didn't buy it. Yuna-sensei gave it to me as a gift for... graduating."
A somber mood settled between all three of them.
"... We will make through it, right?" the blue-eyed girl asked them quietly, her eyes staring at Mei's brilliant red hair, hands reaching out to comb it with her fingers.
Kurai and Kisame traded glances before the shark-boy gave Takara a half-smile.
"Of course, Princess. You need more than one person to take care of you in the field after all, and even with all my awesomeness, I'm afraid I will need help."
Kurai had to stuff her fist in her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud at the furious (if it could be called that) expression on her friend's face. Honestly, Takara looked as terrifying as a affronted fluffy kitten. It was hilarious, really.
"I will have you know, Kisame-san, that I don't need any help-"
"Attention, students. I'm here to tell you the team arragement you will be put under. Please, listen carefully, for I will not repeat myself."
"Team 1, Yoshida Ito, Mori Abeki, ..."
Halfway through the teams listing, Mei woke up from her nap, blearry eyes looking at them confusedy. The red-haired girl pointed a finger at them.
"Wha... what are you guys doing in my bedroom?" she then squinted at Kisame, as if only now noticing him. "Hah! I knew it! You ARE a pervert! Get out of my room Fish-stick! You're not going to see my beautiful naked body!"
At that point, everyone, including the teacher, had stopped whatever they were doing to stare at Mei. Kisame especially, looked particularly horrified at the mere prospect of seeing Mei in any state of undress.
Then Takara scoffed loudly and began to laugh uncontrollably. Soon, everyone in the class was also laughing, a strained and kind of forced sound, many of the children remembering the blood, and even more of them trying to remember what it was like to laugh.
Kurai looked at Takara's laughing face, Mei's accusing finger and mussed up red hair, Kisame's horrified look and faintly red cheeks.
And she laughed, laughed and laughed, forgetting for a moment, just for a moment, the nightmare of death and blood she, and probably all of her friends and classmates, had for the past week.
.
.
Kurai knew that the chances of her group of friend staying together was zero. After all, they were four, and there was only teams of three. Still, she had hoped that at least none of them would stay in a team alone.
So of course, it wasn't to be.
"Team 7, Terumi Mei, Saito Kimura and Okada Fuji, under Takagi Ishimaru... Team 10, Uchida Yoroi, Matsu Kensuke and Azayaka Takara, under Suikazan Fuguki."
"WHAT?!" Kisame yelped behind her. "Fuguki? As in Fuguki-sensei?! He's my shishou! MINE! How can I not be in his team?!"
Takara sent him an apolegetic glance while Mei snorted derisively and Kurai patted his shoulder comfortingly.
"There, there, Kisame. No need to cause such a fuss. I'm sure that just because Fuguki-sama isn't your jounin sensei it doesn't mean you stop being his apprentice. Look at the bright side! Now you have two teachers! Ever heard the word 'variety'?"
Kisame sulked, a dark cloud hanging over his head. "Still. He's my shishou..."
Kurai sweatdropped. Possessive much?
"... Team Thirteen, Hoshigaki Kisame, Izumi Kurai and Wazashi Akihiro, under Mizu no Ao..."
Pink eyed widened. Did he really just say...?
"Tch, looks like things are finally going our way, ne Sukoshi?"
Kurai felt her heart pump with... exitement?... relief?... what was that fluttering feeling growing in her chest?
She felt a hand pat her on the top of her head and looked up to see Takara's blue eyes twinkling down at her.
"Congratulations, Kurai-chan. I'm glad you and Kisame will stay together"
Kurai just nodded while Kisame grinned, eyes closed.
"Well, at least some of us got together. Though how they expect you two to work alongside each other for an extended amount of time without fighting is beyond me. Now, if you would excuse me, I need to meet my teammates and lay down some ground rules," Mei told them, swiftly tiding her hair up in it's usual style and moving to the back of the room, where two boys were sitting with nervous expressions in their faces. They turned pale the moment they saw Mei making her way towards them.
Takara tsked at Mei's actions, also walking away towards her new team while Kisame snorted at the sight. "Those two are dead. Mei's going to eat them alive."
Kurai nodded, seeing the slightly sadistic look in her friend's emerald green eyes when she looked at her two new prey- she meant, teammates. Then she turned to Kisame.
"Do you know who Wazashi is?"
He shrugged, unconcerned. "I know as much as you."
Which wasn't much, it seems.
"Team 13, with me."
Both Kurai and Kisame looked to the door to see a man, probably in his mid-twenties, with blue hair and eyes, wearing a green haori with white trimmings that stoped halfway down. He was staring straight at them, and a lanky brown-haired, dark-eyed boy was making his way to him. Wazashi Akihiro, their third teammate.
"Huh," Kisame turned to look at her with a sharp grin. "Seems like our sensei was the first one to appear"
.
.
Yagura is not surprised when he sees Hiyasu sitting on his balcony when he enters the kitchen. Nor is he surprised at the glare the Sandaime sents him.
"You must think yourself very smart, don't you? Sabotaging all the team arrangements that I made, so that you would have the upper hand in the future..."
Yagura only nods his head politely in greeting, turning to boil a pot of water in the stove. If they were going to chat, than it was best if he had his tea.
Without turning away from the stove, Yagura replied.
"I'm surprised it took you this long to notice. What, did your underlings failed to warn you?"
Hiyasu only laughed at him. "Ah, Yagura-kun. You may have won this round, but you didn't win the war."
The grey-haired man quirked an eyebrow up. "Speaking of war, how goes your efforts to keep our village prepared? I've heard some Kumo and Iwa-nin have been spotted near our borders."
"They've been dealt with, rest assured. I dare say we won't be hearing from Kumo nor Iwa for a few more months yet."
"Good. How's the wife?"
"Kisaki is well. It appears she's pregnant again."
"Congratulations. This will be, what, the third time? I hope she will now be able to deliver the baby safely."
"She will. We have employed the best medics in the country. Soon, I will have a heir."
The words sounded more ominous than they should.
Hiyasu looked at him with his brown eyes, his head delicately resting in his hands as he watched him prepare the tea.
"I'm surprised, you know. I expected that you would try to alter your little Kurai-chan's team, but your choices! Ao, Yagura? Ao? Do you really think that was a wise decision? The Hoshigaki boy, I can understand, if only a little. He has talent. The other is just a civillian that got lucky in the Exam, will die soon enough," he made a dismissive motion with his hand. "He was only picked because you needed someone to complete her team. But Ao? I can't, for the life of me, imagine why you would pick him. After all the times he has fail-"
Clang.
Surprised, Hiyasu looked to see what had caused the noise, only to see that a tea tray had been put - with unnecessary forcefulness - on the dinning table. The delicious smell of steaming hot chamomile tea graced his sensitive nose.
"I thought you was telling me off for meddling with the team arrengements. Does it really matter who I decided to pair my daughter with?"
The Mizukage snorted. "I see. You make it so easy for other people to rile you up, do you know that, Yagura-kun? Always avoiding the past like the plague, almost flinching when someone brings it up. Gods above, you even had to move away from your old house to escape the memories..." he picked one of the tea cups. "But even while trying to erase it from your mind, you can't escape it, can you? Not when the living memory of the very person you want to forget at all costs lives under the same roof as you."
"Are you here only to discuss the past, Mizukage-sama? Or is there a reason for your visit?"
Cold brown eyes stared deep into pink ones.
"Stop with this madness Yagura. You won't win. You can't. If you stop now, I promise I won't seek revenge against the traitors. I can be a merciful man."
Yagura snorted, his expression grim. "Merciful? You?! The man that gave our village the moniker of the Bloody Mist and created a Exam where children have to butcher themselves like wild animals? Tell me then, Hiyasu-sama, when in your life, have you ever been merciful?"
Hiyasu didn't hesitate to answer.
"The day I held you in my hands as a baby and allowed you to live."
The cup broke under Yagura's grip, tea splashing on the ground. His face was clouded with rage and stormy, dark pink eyes glared at the Kaguya man from across the table.
"Out."
Hiyasu lifted a brow. "Excuse me?"
"Out. Out of my house, out of my life. Out!"
Calmly, the Sandaime stood up, brushing imaginary dust from his clothes. "You will regret this Yagura. I won't make this offer again. Surrender now, or I will be forced to break my promise to-"
"You broke your promise to her long ago. I want you to get out of my house. And you better stay away from my daughter, Hiyasu, or so help me, I don't care if I own you everything that I have today. I will destroy you."
Yagura stood up, eyes flashing with barely concealed fury.
"And thatis my promise to you."
Hiyasu stared at the younger man cooly, before giving a curt nod. "Very well then, just remember, you will the one to bear the consequences of your actions. Remember that it was your choice, seito."
"I will, shishou."
The time for petty games between them was over.
Now, it was war.
...
AN: Hey guys. Sorry for the lateness of this chapter. My old notebook broke and no one knows how to fix it. My parents bought a new one two days ago and I had to rewrite this entire chapter from scratch. I think I may have lost everything I had in the old pc *cries*.
Anyway, hope you like this chapter. Hopefully, the next one will come faster.
And a especial thanks for Uncertain Shifter for drawing the first fanart of Dark Waters and giving me the idea for Kurai's outfit. You ROCK! If anyone's interested in seeing the pic, just google it:
Entering Dark Waters by lover-of-books1 in deviantart