Hi! Another update, and Happy Belated Valentines Day!
Thanks!
February 12, 2019- Finished.
February 21, 2019- Edited.
-Line Break-
Gold glittered and silver shined, rings and necklaces sparkled as rubies, sapphires, and emeralds caught the light. The odd diamonds scattered amoungst the shelves and floors haphazardly as if hiding behind the wealth, and the very first amethyst that started it all along with that piece of fancy paper was nicely sealed in a glass. Precious metals tangled into each other and other small treasures can be seen in the dark corners such as furs and silks that were sequester away unused and forgotten in a stylized treasure chest.
Truly. Truly this was a room that nobles would envy for. The daimyo himself would scream in frustration in how poorly such valuables were treated. If Orochimaru could sum up all this treasure and liquidize it into monetary numbers, he thinks that even he could easily take a place within the daimyo's court with sheer wealth alone.
And all this didn't count the numerous blades, axes, hammers, marbles and other baubles that the shinobi side would love to get their hands on. Despite already having his choice weapon, despite her preferring her fists and the sword he insisted on, anything that she could fit into her sealing scrolls of her making will find its way into this room. Lining the walls with careful precision to fit like a puzzle with little care in categorizing the weapons by type.
This room truly is a vision of envy and frustration. The secret and untold adventures that made up the entire room only lied within him, only he had unlimited access to the stories behind each jewel and knife that was part of this collection. Just as how this collection was all his, only his.
"Oh, littler viper, what are you doing?"
The gold felt cold against his skin, slightly warmed with the little body heat he could produce but still colder than him. Even with hours of laying down on his side in the one of the curves of the piles that Kaguhime long made herself, the gold was still chilled by the absence of their usual caretaker.
Months and months and months of her absence and now she'll never come back.
"You'll catch a cold, little viper." Kaguhime slithered gently around her charge. "Our little rattler would be worried if you got sick."
Orochimaru closed his eyes at that, Haruka was almost terrified of getting sick. With the strict sterile codes that he employed in his labs, cleanliness wasn't an issue between the both of them. Messy and disorganized she may be, but dirty she was not. Haruka wasn't completely obsessive with keeping clean, but she was always first to prevent anything from rotting, hence why he buried his old experiments out in the gardens where they could decay safely.
Both of them never really got sick, a sneeze here and a cough there, they experienced symptoms but never sick. But he can easily imagine just how horrified she could be if he did, imagine how miserable if she did.
He missed her.
Kaguhime huffed at Orochimaru's continued silence. "It will be cold tonight, if you must lay her and sleep, at least take the furs and cover yourself." She slithered off to fetch her desired item. "All this gold and our little rattler still prefers silver."
Coins clattered against each other and the one that fell in front of his face made him marvel at the design. It was different than the old Warring Era currency that was used for inter-clan purposes, different than the official engravings the daimyos agreed with their respected nation's symbols. It made him wonder just when Haruka got a coin press and where exactly she was keeping it.
His -their- clan symbol was emblazoned on one side, detailed quite expertly to where she had to use a press. Her hands weren't made for such precise detail, she didn't have the patience to keep an intensive protect that kept her confined and in one place. He knows because he tried to include her with his projects, the most useful thing she did was to provide off hand comments and spontaneous materials she had on hand.
Few and far between, probably safer for the both of them that she never poked around his labs, but he misses those times.
"Honestly, where does she even find furs like this?" Kaguhime unceremoniously draped a soft, orange fur over his form like a blanket. "What animal did this even come from?"
"Fox fur most likely, multiple pelts just stitched together."
"He speaks!"
Orochimaru sighed. "It's cold."
"And the cold did you well if it slowed your thoughts." Kaguhime shook her head. "But you must warm up now, you will definitely get sick after spending too many days in here. Your friends and hatchlings worried, still are."
Instead of answering, he flipped the coin on its other side.
A bird sat lonely on a branch.
"I remember a long time ago, I asked if Haruka believed in reincarnation."
"Oh? What did she say?"
"I remembered her telling me not to get distracted, that the things I strove for would hold me back." His fingers curled through the fur. "We were still genin, I remember still only because it was after her first disaster of a mission. I was... scared."
Kaguhime laid her massive head next to his. "Yes, you've told me."
Haruka was like a precious antique, something as a child that he was curious about before learning to love. Something akin to his mother's favourite hair sticks that were passed down through the generations or to his father's journals and old pocket watch. The thought of losing such things, the first encounter of losing someone so important, struck the first cord and it was the thought of not being able to share his dreams and secrets in time that made him speak them out.
A childish mistake that he's never regretted, even if he still doesn't understand somewhat. But it wasn't just that.
"She was almost untouchable to me, I never realized it until later but I always thought I wouldn't be able to beat her no matter how many times she let me." He huffed at himself in the admittance. "She was powerful and had the ability to get whatever she wanted in a way with her words. Even the Hokage would bend to her."
Kaguhime sigh and chuckled softly. "And it made you wondered out of everybody here, why she chose you?" She flicked her tail at some gem. "Us Snakes wondered the same as well, but we think it's because you approached her first. Birds by nature have long memories, memories that are passed on through their blood than by ink or mouth. If there was any ill intentions, we would've eaten her, but instead look what she gave us.
"Sometimes we think she's a type of crow, stealing shiny objects like magpies, bringing misfortune like ravens, and have no trouble in murders like their flocks. But then she sings her songs like blue jays, certainly have the colour for it too." She flicked her tongue. "Parrot-like too with how loyal she is as well."
"You seem to know much of the Bird clans."
Kaguhime huffed. "We have to, we already foresaw her induction into the family, we were merely preparing which bird she is to be with. Alliances in our dimension is almost no different than yours. But as I was saying, birds respond to kindness so they give kindness back." She sighed. "You let her go, and she'll come back. It is the same way she does with you, yes?"
Tsunade once said that Haruka was unstoppable once she set her mind on something and he truly believed that as well. It was fruitless to refute, she had the indomitable will that bulldozed through obstacles with all the grace of a diving hawk. Too fast and agile to keep up with and far too strong to try and drag her down. She had the things he wanted to see himself the first years he knew her, he realized that in a way, he looked up to her.
She was strong, the strongest person he's ever known. She held almost all of his admiration and faith, the first person he turned to at a sight of a problem he couldn't fix or figure out.
"I don't want to believe she's gone."
"Then do not believe." Kaguhime said simply. "Do not believe until the facts lay bare and evidence of her demise is certain. Did Iwa's message to us not clear? They have not found her."
Something jolted within him, the words played nearly a thousand times over in the span of the few seconds that it finally struck true.
"No, no, they have not."
It has been months, too many months for Iwa to finally realize their intruders. With their famed Nidaime of a Tsuchikage being hailed as their strongest, if not the strongest sensor within the known history, the famous Non-Personwho left no chakra signature and track others many miles away, the man who's most likely met his match in terms of stealth.
Orochimaru never met the man, but he thinks Haruka can easily take away his moniker and title of the strongest sensor. He knows that because it's been a week since the damned message first came and there has yet for word of a second mask coming.
He's glad, that there has been no secrets between them and duty. That no matter the lives they lived, there was no need for locked doors or hidden panels that needed to be used between them.
But this confidence was dangerous, but nevertheless is something that he could look towards.
"Haruka-" A laugh escaped him. "Haruka was always fond of playing hide-and-seek."
It wasn't relief, he'll feel relief when he sees her before him and back home again. But instead the hope he felt was telling, it sprung eternal as the saying goes and it went hand in hand with what he knows in how she plays.
"She did, and even I fail to find her these days. And finding her is only the first part, they still have to catch her."
He believed it too, just as he always did. It hurt to believe but he latched onto that hope because he doesn't have a reason not to. There was still promises to be fulfilled and plans still to be made, there was still so many things to do to just to be killed off in such a meek way where nobody even knew it happened. Haruka was anything but meek, she wouldn't stand for it and would find out how to make something explode if it comes to that.
And she'd do it with all the glitter she'd still somehow had on her.
So with that thought in mind, he got up with shaky arms and legs. Dragged the fur to keep over his shoulders, because it was still too cold, and made his way slowly to his room.
"What are you doing, little viper?" Kaguhime slithered irritated. "Put your gear down, you need to eat first before you even think about doing anything else!"
"Haruka is trapped, but I can help thin out how many Iwa-nin she'll have to deal with."
Orochimaru yelped as Kaguhime easily swiped her tail under his feet, he landed on the floor on his back before glaring at his summon.
"Don't you turn your eyes against me, you brought this on yourself, little viper." The snake huffed at him. "You must eat first, then sleep properly. You'll be no good to our little rattler if you are already half-dead on your feet. The Slug Summoner will definitely not let you take any missions the way you are now."
"Fine."
It could only help, it's the least he could do if he was going to be unreasonable on the matter. If he was in good health, there would be no reason for anyone to stop him from going to the front lines against Iwa.
He'll make sure Iwa only sees him by the end of the war.
-Line Break-
"Shimura Danzou, huh? I always knew I should've done something against him. I wonder if he finally got that army he wanted."
The only response was various whimperings underneath my foot. I huffed at the downed man.
"What's wrong, hmm? What happened to all your confidence? All that boasting and promises you swore to deliver?" I leaned my weight further into the body shoving my foot deeper into his back. "For all your flashy fire and flashy tricks, you're more of a one-trick-pony than a coyote."
I kicked him. I kicked him hard enough to send him skidding across the gravel ground and watch his body tumble uselessly. I followed his fall with a slow amble not too concerned about him getting away. Not too concerned about the mess or the noise.
"I liked Rabbit-taichou, you know? He was nice to me, let me do things at my own pace and let me choose majority of my missions." I said thinking out loud. "There was only a few times where I absolutely had to take on a mission that only I could complete, but I didn't mind. It was the least I could do just from the amount of freedom that was given to me. The people I hunted, the things I got, and the lives I could freely ruin, he gave me so much free reign like nobody would believe.
"In a way, I owe him a lot. I still owe him a lot, it's one of the reasons why I followed his orders to his every intention no matter how much this mission went to shit." I spat at the fallen body. "He was one of my favourite people, and he still is too. So that's why I'll continue to follow his orders, his very last missions for me before I figure out what to do next."
"Y-you can't kill me. You'll n-never get out of Iwa without me." Coyote rasped out. "You-ll be killed."
I barked out a laugh. "Iwa? You think Iwa is the biggest problem? You think Iwa will break me before I can break them?" I laughed harder. "And people call me crazy! Called me delusional!
"Who do you think I am?"
I stomped and crushed his leg, the scream pierced through the air and I know for sure that the nearby patrols could hear him. I remember doing this before, not from before but in the hazy memories that I've deemed unimportant. Crying faces appeared within my mind and I could easily imagine any one of them to replace that Coyote mask.
"In this game of life, a little radical thinking can do wonders. Especially in a world where people can breathe fire, read minds, and control the shadows? A little imagination goes a very long way.
"And in a world where people race their secrets? I like to think I'm ahead of this world by a couple of laps."
I giggled at the horrified feel in his chakra. Despair engulfed him like the fire he liked to wield and his passion fizzled out fast as if he were in an ocean storm. Hope left him and I relished at the desperate search of escape. He was the prey and I was the predator that played with her food.
For all the fear he displayed though, he didn't deserve show it all after what he's done.
"So who-
"-did-"
"He think-"
"-he-"
"-wAs?!"
Time slowed and I had to blink back tears that blurred my sight, and for the first time, there was a sense of horror to my own person.
I held the head of my traitor, the mask left behind with the rest of the body as time skipped ahead of me again. Fear was emblazoned as his final expression, like many others before him, and it made me wonder why it was this that made me feel something after so many others did even less against me.
The quiet chilled my body, the tears still came ceaselessly.
"Will you recognize me today, big brother?"
My words were left unanswered, the only sounds being the Iwa-nin closing in. The sounds of rocks clattered in a rush, the faint rustle of what little grass was here bend under the light breeze. Time now slowed giving me all the world to wonder about other meaningless things that also came to the forefront of my mind.
For the longest, this particular thought never bothered me. If anything, I did my best to strive for it while holding the very few too precious.
I was alone now, and that bothered me.
-Line Break-
Mouri Daigo was one of the biggest and most successful crime lords in Iwa. He can easily boast that the entire lower quarters of Iwa's population was under his grasp and it only took a single command to get what he wanted. Daigo had money, power, and luxury that most nobles brag about in exaggeration.
All this was under his thumb, but he hates how he got it.
It was an honour, they said, that he should be grateful for the opportunity.
Opportunities usually involves risks that vary depending on the rewards. What he had came swift and in great amounts, but in the end he was still a criminal. A black stain on society's image that nobody would look twice to. By the end of his life, even when he may have heirs to leave his wealth behind, his name will be forgotten and overwritten in the endless cycle of servitude that Iwa demanded.
Daigo would know, his family disappeared for the sake of Iwa after all. Disappeared because of a single mistake that one member made and all of them paid for it.
And now, finally, he was seeing his brother's mistake come and take his life. Inadvertent it may be, he hated his brother for what became of him, the horrid mystery in what happened to their sister, their parents' last moments of disgrace before they were cut down. An honest mistake that cut the Mouri name out of the registries as if they never existed because it was convenient for the good of Iwa.
He hated Iwa more, so it was with great irony that the demon that stained his house red with his men's blood had the face and smile of an angel.
She was otherworldly, calm and flicked through a book as if there was no other trouble in the world with hair so blue that it shimmered like the ocean under the soft candle light. And the paleness of her skin was unmarred of the destruction that she caused, a healthy tone that spoke of something unnatural.
But he knows a demon when he sees one, not even the tailed-beasts that he once chased after could compare to the cruelty that the demon held before him. He might've been only a chuunin when he was disgraced, but his old shinobi senses always knew the lies in the web. Only, he saw the lie a little too late and the demon made her web to replace his.
"Iwa throws such a fit over the littlest things, even if they cause most of them."
The ledger that the demon was holding was telling in what she was saying, how money was given to him and in turn money was given back almost ten fold and more. The underworld that the shinobi side mostly gave up on for politics was still profitable and still very much useful. It was just that some people were too good to dirty their hands and some people were just easily expendable and being a criminal didn't have the same safety nets as the people that put him there in the first place.
Blood stained into his floors with a decorative spear pinning him through his gut, he idly wondered why he chose weapons to colour his walls. They weren't even fit for combat, more pretty to look at than practical.
But the demon was pretty to look at as well, at least he had that.
"Konoha was no different though, but I think you guys are still cleaner. I can't really say for sure though, with you guys always at my tail."
Daigo laughed despite how painful it was. "Of course, of course you are. You're the reason that the big bosses are in up and arms and driving my men to their deaths searching for you."
"I can't be sorry, we are at war after all."
"You killed your own."
The demon laughed, it sounded soft and indulgent and it made him wonder if this act was an act or if this is the condescending disposition that she adopted that was developed from interacting with many of her victims like himself. Like his plight along with the rest of the world's was just something so trivial that she just listened and indulged to satisfy the other as they let out their heart.
But than again, that's what it was to a demon like her, wasn't it? All the world's problems and the deaths that came with it were nothing to her.
"You do know that traitors are still part of the game, Coyote was simply playing a game that he didn't know the rules to."
It was then and there when she turned her face towards him that he saw the decorative mask that hung leisurely on the side of her face. The familiar etching of the accursed leaf, the gentle eyes that matched her still too blue hair, and the blood that slowly dripped from his walls behind her made him believe.
She was untouchable, removed to everything that defined a human despite the skin she wore, and he believed so very hard.
"Konoha not fun enough?"
"I wouldn't say that, each village is about the same to me. The ones that I visited anyways. Iwa was just the first to realize I was here." She twirled a lock of her hair in her other hand. "But I have to go back, there's someone I have to kill."
There was playfulness, the same playfulness akin to a cat batting a toy. But with claws unsheathed and no care to damaging or breaking in what the toy was. All she cared about was having her fun and Daigo thinks he could work with that.
"You took the souls of my men, and you're about to take mine. I want something out of this bargain."
"Oh?"
Daigo sucked in a breath of air. "The Kazenomoi Clan, they're a minor noble family. Civilian. I want them dead."
"I was under the impression that Iwa didn't take well to traitors, with your indoctrination and all." She said carelessly. "I would've thought bringing it up would strike something."
"Demon, I know provocation when I see one, and you probably knew you'd make a traitor out of me."
"I just wanted to rob you, crumbling Iwa's biggest source of information on the common folk was just a bonus." She said lightly. "I'll admit Iwa is vigilant but there's always a way to raze a building." She looked down to him. "But I'll listen, there's nothing else to do after I'm finished here. And as far as anyone knows, the old lady that came to visit is still busy here."
That's right, he remembered old Renee stopping by. She already paid this month's worth of protection and it wasn't unusual for her to drop in to tell them to do what she's paying for. The usual rowdy tenant or someone threatening her for one reason or another. He respected her hardened, no-nonsense nature after years of being in the slums.
He thinks it's actually fitting that Renee died by a demon, the old woman was too tough for anything else.
"Kazenomoi is the real driving factor of Iwa's underworld, and if you go after them, you might find something nice."
"Oh? How convenient." She set the ledger down. "I do like nice things, more for the collection."
Daigo nodded before giving another shuddering breath. "I want them to suffer."
There was a pause before she gave him an owlish blink. A curious stare down at him before the corner of her lips turned up and her eyes sparkled in mirth. It felt like she was laughing at him, but he wasn't the sole source of it. There was a fluttering sensation within the fatal wound in his gut and she opened her mouth to speak.
"You know, your sister asked me to do the same thing. Right before she asked me to kill her." She looked at the ceiling above. "She was the one that led me to you."
And there it was, the demon's gripping claws that made his last moments fill with both unbearable hope and lasting torment. Daigo can easily see now how Konoha was willing to tolerate something so vile. Honeyed poison that promises wishes to where they never suspect their own deaths to follow, even Iwa would fall into that same trap. It was only the fact that he was already dying that the demon would be this careless. It was careless, but the demon can spare to be careless.
"I- I want to see he whole Kazenomoi Clan when I'm dead."
"Of course, I hope your reunion with your sister is warm."
He didn't want to know why she said it like that, but he'll find out soon enough.
-Line Break-
Mu always knew there was a third Konoha shinobi within his village, how couldn't he when they left their chakra signature everywhere. But the thing was, none of his shinobi could pick up on it, as if only he could see the ghost amoungst the living.
And he realized, as he decided to help out with the Mouri Case, that even though he could sense the Konoha-nin's chakra signature, he wasn't able to track it. It was a dispersing fog he could see, but it was just as expansive and disorientating once inside and when the sun came up, it was gone under the heat. It was a first for him as one of the best, if not the best sensor in his lifetime, that someone was able to escape him.
At first, his thoughts drifted to Kiri. Mu could easily conclude that his intruder had origins in the Land of Water, their chakra was telling in how deep their roots were. Their family probably settled in the Land of Fire for better prospects as the Warring Era ended. He always have more difficulties in tracking Kiri-nin with their water nature much to his chagrin. It was the first thing that the current Mizukage would rub in his face.
But never has he failed to track a target, and now he's just realizing just how bad it was to let a Konoha intruder run around. Even if it was only the slums that they've been restricted to, it was a mistake for letting his complacency let his guard down after two of their friends were found dead. He thought this was an easy case, even if the third was proving a challenge to his shinobi.
Mu was familiar with suicide seals, as the Tsuchikage, it would be a failure on his part if he didn't. The first died by his own hands at the verge of being caught. It was expected when spies were loyal and were wholly willing to take their secrets to the grave.
The second that they've found slightly confused him, but easy enough to figure out. Gruesomely beaten and beheaded, none of his shinobi came forward to claim the kill so it was easily concluded that the third Konoha-nin killed the second. Obviously they've kept the head for whatever reason whether it was for the bounty or something else, but those reasons didn't explain why they would leave their comrade's mask behind.
Internal strife quite obviously, but in the end, he still sent the mask back to Konoha claiming that Iwa was responsible.
And then everything happened.
Who's trapped who now?
There was a childish drawing of a singing bird by the message on the wall, the brush that was used being embedded into the wall in an illusion as if the bird was holding it in its wing. The blood was just drying but it didn't stop the image of the other blood splattered walls that dripped in abundance.
Impaled into the floor, was his more regrettable mistakes. It was a necessary sacrifice though for the greater good of Iwa, and now lying dead because of him underestimating the intruder.
Mouri Daigo bled to death, but it didn't even look like he bothered to struggle out of dying. Let the spear pin him against the cold, polished wood before fading away from the living word. As if the man let his intruder drag out his death because there wasn't any other choice.
So either the Konoha-nin provided no room for a fight or Daigo died parting secrets.
"Tsuchikage-sama."
Mu turned to the Jounin on the case. "What is it?"
"The ledger on Mouri's desk, there's- there's another message."
Blood was used to circle a single name, the Kazenomoi name, and in elegant letters of drying brown-red blood-
You've made a traitor out of them.
The Tsuchikage didn't understand, that civilian clan was one of the most loyal even if they demanded compensation for their 'donations'. He couldn't think any reason why the family would turn on him. If anything, it would be the other way around, setting up the late crime lord for their cover ups.
"I want someone to take a visit to the Kazenomoi Clan, root out anything from them."
"Hai, Tsuchikage-sama."
There was a drawing by the circled name, little stick figures of a little girl and a taller man holding hands. Another bird was drawn in the same stick figure fashion above them with wings curved out in a glide. He didn't understand why anyone would waste time on silly, childish drawings. Whether it was a quirk of a habit or a moment of insanity, Mu couldn't think why they would draw this out all the things to draw.
The grotesque nightmare of splattered blood stains on the walls out in the hallways seemed enough to send the message. The blood that pooled in the main office where the boss resided said even more. The letters that were left behind confirmed who was behind this, but it also confused him why this was happening. Why target people not even close to the objective?
There were other cases that couldn't be explain, and now he thinks this could be the connecting point. A solid connecting point with just how tangible this crime scene was.
Mu still was mulling over why their intruder killed off their own, the only help they would possibly get in their hopeless situation. A large part of him was sure that it was some sort of appeasement to spare their lives, that an offer of a trade would happen. Only, this happened instead and he was almost back to square one.
So he reached out, expanded his senses for that elusive chakra. The visible traces that he could see but never truly touch, the ghosting image that carries its weight like the wind until it expanded like a cloud. It encompassed everything and-
Mu snapped out of his daze before rushing outside, all his shinobi were alarmed at his sudden rush but ignored it all together to look up at the changing sky. The rest of his shinobi that all rushed out also joined his wide-eyed staring.
"What the hell is happening?"
-Line Break-
I remembered that story, of that brambled castle with monsters within it. A single spell that turned the world dull to protect the dreamers from ever experiencing the nightmare. It was a story that inspired the inevitable and over coming the odds that threaten to crush the hero.
This wasn't like that story though, it wasn't as colourful nor it was as child friendly. There wasn't nearly enough blood to match the fairy tale, but it wasn't hard to draw comparisons when imagination jumps at the chance to make itself known. And it was a sort of inspiration that led to casting my own spells, to wave my magic around and put awe within the masses.
That fairy tale that ease the fears with a happy ending, the light of hope that everything will be alright, and the person that personified the strength and determination to see that it gets to that point. It was a tale that everyone wanted to believe in, the dream that everyone strove for and reached for it unconsciously no matter how bleak the world was.
"Hope for the best, prepare for the worst."
Human fears tend to be unreasonable, exaggerate themselves to always see the worst in their torment. Human fears also tend to cling rather forcefully to their comforts, so what happens when one twist a happy ending, a tale of hope, into something darker?
I know the story even if I couldn't remember the words, the images were graceful with each paint stroke and I could hear the birds whistling and the squirrels running to listen. Listen to what, I don't know, but there was something important that drove the story along. I've forgotten but I can't bring myself to listen any harder than I've already have.
"What's that song you're singing?"
"I honestly don't really know anymore." I licked my lips. "It's something I've forgotten, but it comes back when I daydream. But it's a story that starts with a 'once upon a time.'"
"Huh, once upon a time?"
That's right, I told Orochimaru that, didn't I?
"I had a once upon a time, but I guess that's not right either."
There wasn't anything like this, I was once the protected one after all. One of the dreamers that fell asleep to keep away the nightmares because I was too weak to face them. I wanted to face them, but some monsters were too strong for the weak body that left me in bed and out of sight.
Sometimes, I wish all that was a dream. But in a way, that's also true, isn't it?
"There's a reason why we birds don't sing with words, it gets too complicated."
I nodded. "I understand, I know. Sometimes, it's easier to sing the mood because words like beauty and hope can be applied to a lot of things."
"Exactly!"
I had a once upon a time, it was a dream that I wanted to come true in a way. To have my most favourite person by my side, to play the songs lost to me, to float through the days without a care. It was a dream and it was a slow torturous nightmare because in the end, it ended quietly.
And then I woke up.
"Hey, you okay?"
The little bird was no bigger than my hand, brown with a white belly, it even had a black pattern over its eyes that looked like a mask. It was so common looking, but I guess that was the point.
"I'm fine, I just miss home." I blinked back to reality. "Say, why did you guys accept me as your summoner? I would've thought I had to go through a lot of trials after what I did."
"Sure."
I gave a small laugh. "Okay then." I pointed towards the arches. "Before we leave, I'm going to take one of those down. I still have my mission, but nothing's stopping me from having fun."
"Just to have fun?"
I huffed softly. "What is a person that doesn't enjoy the job they have?"
"Well, birds get miserable when they get denied, can't say much for humans."
"Humans are the same way, a lot of us tend to over think things though."
"We know, it's that reason why we can't really say much."
It was a tentative relationship, but I think we would make a nice fairy tale of our own. Like the brambled castle in my dreams, Iwa would be the setting of this story. A once upon a time that Iwa would give, but only, they'll be wishing it was a dream.
Once upon a dream.
Now that sounded right, I had a once upon a dream.
"Now play that song."
My ears rang and my gut fluttered with joy, but another part of me trembled. Whether it was in excitement or anticipation of the worse, something was going to break. I wanted to be the one to break something and preferably those rocky arches.
Once upon a dream.
"Once upon a nightmare, that's what Iwa will think of us."
"You seem sure."
"Fairy tales have pretty singing birds in them, we all have our parts."
"I don't think fairy tales start out with 'once upon a nightmare.'"
"This fairy tale won't be a nice one, it won't have a happy ending."
That was a promise, and once I fulfill it, I have another to keep. And before that, I had to go home. I miss home.
I miss big brother.
-Line Break-
Hope you enjoyed!