Redesign Chapter 37: The Death of Kings 2, a naruto fanfic

Chapter 37 | The Death of Kings II

The clothing was torn from her body and cast aside in shreds. She was paraded through the long hallway behind the staircase and thrown into a room filled to the brim with the priests and priestesses of the temple. All the chattering ceased and the sound of rushing water emerging from deep inside the room reached her as she stepped forward shielding her body with both of her arms from their eyes. She smelled flowers and fragrant oils. She felt the smothering heat of being in a room full of too many people. Her stomach twisted into knots and her mind was restless.

A path cleared for her to pass and she walked through it to the edge of a large pool of water lined with stones and cattails, its dark surface covered in white water lilies. A small cascade flowed from an opening in the rocky wall, crashing gently over the surface to create sudden ripples in the water, and slipped away through a horizontal fissure on the other edge of the pool.

Ayuka followed close behind having donned a white robe made of translucent fabric and silver necklaces encrusted with emeralds. Half of her long red hair was twisted atop her head, held together by a beautiful hairpin. Beside her stood Yayoi with her dark locks swept back into a braid and a jeweled dagger in her hand.

"Your hands. Show them to me," Ayuka ordered, making a hasty gesture.

Mio stared down at her bare body, decorated only in the Time Sphere that hung from the dark cord around her neck. She hesitated, aware of all the eyes upon her, but slowly obeyed. She held her hands out, palms up, for Ayuka to see.

Ayuka reached for the dagger in Yayoi's hand and drew the blade forth. "I dreamt of initiating the Shugosha into the temple," she began slowly, holding the knife so it caught the light of the candles held by those standing in a semicircle around them. "I imagined it would be an enlightening experience for someone so damned. I do hope you tell me when it is over."

She clasped Mio by the wrist, startling her heart into a quick hammering. Her eyes met hers, darker in the light and in intent. "Abandon your strength, Mio. It will only hurt for a moment."

Mio felt the edge of the blade as the priestess cut deep into her flesh, running the dagger in a line atop her wrist, rupturing the veins. It hurt as expected, a quick, sharp pain. Ayuka did the same to her other hand as well and returned the sizzling dagger to Yayoi, who held it pinched between two fingers as far from her body as possible.

The blood flowed quickly from the deep wounds, seeming to leave faster with every dreaded pound of her heart. She stared at the blood, her breath starting to grow erratic. Ayuka turned her around and pushed her in the direction of a hidden step by the edge. Catching on, Mio quietly entered the pool to face a whirl of terrified thoughts at the realization that it was deep and she never learned to swim out of an irrational fear of drowning. From where she stood, atop the tiny step, the water was at her knees.

"The Purification Ceremony is the divide between life and death," said Ayuka, gesturing her forward down another step that made the water rise to her waist. The priestess did not follow her in. She crouched down by the edge, reaching out to wrap her hand to the nape of Mio's neck. "You have lived Mio in the impure world surrounded by fools, and you will die to shed that part of your life."

Mio's panicked breathing mirrored her heartbeat as she looked into Ayuka's pleasant smile. If she made her take another step down, Mio would have a fit, though she doubted she needed to go that far down to have that reaction. She was already in the cusp.

"I doubt I will be able to sustain you long enough for you to drown, so you'll have to excuse the extremity of my actions."

She did not have the time to process her words when a quick, devastating impact took her consciousness.

A searing pain woke her from the darkness and her body was limp and heavy underwater. A new surge of fright possessed her and she lost it, fighting against the several arms holding her under. She thrashed, causing violent ripples in the surface of the blood tinted water, but more arms broke through the water to keep her there. She continued to struggle, yanking away the hands holding her limbs, until she ran out of air and unable to control the reflex, she gasped.

Water rushed into her lungs, burning its way down. She was drowning and her sphere was glowing, but it would not protect her, not unless it was in danger of being stolen. If it could have protected her then and there because she was in trouble, she might have never had to experience drowning all over again. She fought a losing fight, the blood loss caught up to her.

She was dying and it was slow and excruciating, but as she neared death, the cold sinking into her skin, she felt her body being pulled out of the water. She was weak, but she felt hands pushing down on her chest and then, nothing.

Kuronuma Takuto sensed a chilling distress—a paralyzing fear. He tasted it. It possessed him like a malignant spirit and he understood whatever Mio felt was worse.

The servants guided him to a dingy room covered in cobwebs and left him with clean bedding. He stood by the entrance breathing shallowly in an attempt to circumvent his allergies, but the smell of dust was sharp and he was fighting against a persistent itch in his nose. He wouldn't be able to sleep in there if he scrubbed it down, but then again, he didn't consider the thought long when he shut the door and started running down the hall in search of Mio.

He exited through a door that led to the back of the building facing the mountain wall. He breathed in the fresh air, distracted by the buzzing noise of the castle. He heard heavy breathing and with a troubled look turned around to see the fat king having his way with the brunette he had been fondling when he first saw him. Although, the woman was in the throes of passion, she happened to open her eyes in the moment he caught them, saw that he was there and started pounding at the king's back while screaming for him to let her go.

The king whirled around a bit disoriented as he tugged his clothes shut. He stared at Takuto blankly and Takuto stared back feeling his stomach churn in disgust at the disheveled sight of him.

"Who are you?" the king barked.

"I'm a Kuronuma," he answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. It was.

"A Kuronuma?"

Takuto inclined his head. "You sent for me by means of Mikazuki shinobi."

Enki arched an eyebrow, realization dawning. "Ah yes, the Shugosha asked for a Kuronuma at her side," he said. "You made quite a mess in the port. Ayuka-sama was not pleased with your conduct."

He had his preacher's tone. He wondered if that was part of his kingly duties—to have that tone.

Takuto killed the Mikazuki shinobi on the ferry when they refused to let him pass. They had been determined to deliver him to the high priestess, Motou Ayuka. "I apologize," he began, "I would have buried them, but the Mikazuki and Kuronuma have a long history of animosity."

The king looked stupefied.

"Do you happen to know where Uchiha Madara is?" asked Takuto.

"He has gone hunting."

"Ah, hunting, fantastic. I had no idea there was anywhere to hunt on this polluted island." Takuto laughed. "Curious." He started to walk away, but paused, turning around fully. "Oh, yes, I almost forgot. The Kuronuma clan wanted to thank you for choosing Mio to become your bride. She is a very special woman in all of our lives."

The stupid king did not seem to understand sarcasm as he nodded like a fool. "Yes, yes, of course," he said. "Mio is a lovely girl. I am blessed."

"On the mountain, when a man chooses his bride, whether the union is arranged or happens out of mutual affection, he is expected to be fiercely loyal to his lady that if he so much as shames her, the Kuronuma capture and torture him as retribution." Takuto smiled at the king, amused by how quickly his expression begun to change as he started to understand the meaning of his words. "First, we pull out his teeth, one at a time, and we move onto the tongue—cut it off. It dulls the screams for when we peel off his skin. We do it with freshly sharpened knives so that they can slice through the flesh with ease. Some men are persistent and they live through it, but not long through the burning. We cook the meat off them and feed it to the wolves. We used the bones to make the lattice of our homes. Human bone is strong. It can withstand the harshest of storms."

Enki paled, looking as though he were about to be sick, and the woman that accompanied him stood with her back to the wall, horrified.

"And the woman that tempted the man from honoring the bride he chose is treated no different," he said, raking his gaze over her. He made her visibly uncomfortable. "We do not feed her flesh to the wolves. It is too tender, too sweet." He licked his lips and she flinched. "It would be a waste."

She let out a shuddering cry, tears bursting from her eyes, and she gathered her skirts to flee. Her frightened cries still reached him despite the distance she managed to put between them. She startled the servants as she passed.

Takuto returned his eyes to Enki, a bright smile on his face. "Have a wonderful evening, heika."

He left the king to fetch Madara. The Motou shinobi at the giant castle gates shot him a wary gaze as he sprinted past them. He followed the road along the mountain and reached the bottom where the king's village sat full of lively residents. He passed them by without a second glance, noticing the difference between the people of that village, which sat so close to Enki's castle, and the coastal village where Kiyo and Tsuruko lived. In that single glimpse, he saw Motou and Mikazuki shinobi patrolling the area, keeping an eye out for newcomers like himself.

Takuto knew Madara was near by the number of Uchiha standing near a precipice overlooking a long drop into a sea of rocks weathered by the waves crashing against them. Madara and several of his men scaled back up the wall with fresh wounds and their weapons drawn seconds after he arrived.

Madara spotted him and walked to him briskly, dismissing all that approached. "What do you want?"

Takuto tugged out his artifact and poked at its reflective surface. He tilted his head to the side when an image replaced his reflection, one of Mio offering her wrists to the redheaded priestess but he noticed there wasn't a stitch of clothing on her. The Reflection Sphere tended to delay events, meaning it would be some time before he could see if she was being tortured. He waved the image away.

"Mio is being kept in a long room, underground somewhere. There's a whole mountain wall and water, water covered in white flowers," he told him.

"A long room underground with water?" repeated Madara. "That is in the temple, under the staircase."

"Temple under the staircase." Takuto nodded in understanding. He had seen where the temple was. He started walking away and stopped when Madara did not follow. "Are you coming? The Shugosha is in a precarious situation."

"My duties are not done here."

"Have it your way—"

Takuto looked down at his artifact, quick to sense something was wrong and tapped its surface. Nothing appeared. It was not working and that meant one thing. "She's dying," he said slowly.

"What?"

"My artifact is dead, meaning she is either close or already there," he said quickly. "I'm a Kuronuma and I am good at what I do, but I can't bring back someone dead. So if she's alive, I don't have time to waste explaining things to—"

Madara took off and Takuto sprinted after him, surprised at how fast he moved.

An ancient priest forbade them from entering the building he called sanctuary, but the two pushed through, Takuto taking the lead after entering a hall covered in golden statues and lit by a thousand candles. He sensed Mio elsewhere, and instead of taking the doorway underneath the stairs, he took the staircase to the second landing. Madara followed without question when a group of priestess stopped them.

"Shinobi are not allowed in the temple!" one shouted.

"We need to inform Ayuka-sama!" a second responded, looking frantically to one of her companions.

"But Ayuka-sama is in prayer!" a third informed.

The group of seven priestesses suddenly parted as a towering male walked forward. His black hair was wild and his eyes a deep green shade, "The Kuronuma can stay, but the Uchiha will go," he told them and a path cleared for Takuto. "I will take you to Mio."

Madara fisted his hands, a silent threat against those that tried to force him to leave.

"He is a guardian too," Takuto stated.

"I don't sense an artifact on him." The man looked to Madara, dark eyebrows drawn in concentration.

"It was taken from him by the priestess."

"Ah." Reaching into a small sack at his hip, he procured three artifacts—a dagger, a calligraphy brush, and the dragon's eye. "Climate, Nature, or Vision Sphere?"

"Nature," Madara bit out.

The man threw the calligraphy brush to him. Madara caught it midair and inspected it carefully before putting it away.

"The Uchiha will stay so long as he doesn't lose that artifact a second time," the man decided, then waved his hand to the small crowd. "Go to your prayers."

Takuto and Madara followed the stranger further through the upper floor of the temple. There were many doors leading into small rooms and several hallways separating them. They took five different hallways and came upon the entrance of a spacious room.

The futon lay in the center of the room and Mio was atop it, lying on her side. He crouched down beside her, taking her wrist to find it bandaged. The other was the same. A fresh bruise covered the bridge of her nose and right cheek. A cut on her nose and another over one eyebrow, even her lip had been busted.

Takuto checked her heart rate and analyzed the rest of her body to find her a little short on blood, which explained the bandaged wrists. He expected the cuts to be deep and vertical. Her black water supply would be low. The little beads of sweat on her forehead were an indication of her developing a bad reaction either because she lost a lot of blood or because she lost almost all her supply of black water, both were equally alarming.

"What was done to her?" asked Madara. "She was not to be harmed."

"Purification ceremony," the man replied. "As a Kuronuma, restraining her would have proven difficult, so other means were exercised to subdue her during the ceremony. It will not happen again, that was only the initiation."

"Initiation to what? The Motou cult?" asked Takuto, voice on the precipice of control. "Initiation and purification? Is this a shrine to the Kuronuma clan's legacy? Are the gods you worship the artifacts we possess? She is Shugosha, this was unnecessary."

The man grinned. "The ceremony is mandatory for those marrying in this temple. Death was necessary for renewal. She will now live to marry Enki and her duty to serve him as a wife," he said. "You need not worry for her health. She was treated by the best specialists in this temple."

That irked him. Kuronuma carried their secrets in their blood. Mio had been drained of hers, an idea that birthed many worries. His annoyance was not entirely unselfish and about his devotion to preserving the clan's secrets, but because he never grew to trust anyone outside the clan with the ability to heal another Kuronuma.

"I'll take over the remainder of her healing," Takuto announced.

"Suit yourself."

The man started to leave. With his back turned, Takuto could see the carving on his back, the lashed crescent of the Mikazuki clan. Knowing it and the green eyes that haunted Mio's sleep, Takuto knew the man's identity.

"I also ask that you return the artifacts to her," Takuto told him, "and when you do that you do not show your face before her again."

"She will have her artifacts when she asks for them," the man, Mikazuki Gouki, said. "A Shugosha should not be this weak."

Madara followed Gouki with his eyes as he exited and sealed the room shut. "He should not be on this island," he stated, walking across the room to reach Takuto's side. "Why is he here?"

"I am more concerned by the fact that he returned your artifact when you asked," Takuto said. "I do not trust his intentions, but there is no time to dwell on it. I need to go through Mio's belongings." He stood. "Guard her."

Takuto left the temple to Mio's room and gathered a bag, filling it with clothes and the corked jug Okimi had given Mio to help her. He dropped by his dusty accommodations and took his bag before returning to the temple.

The black-haired priestess was in the room when he arrived and she shot him a disgruntled look.

Takuto arched an eyebrow, pointed at Mio. "Your handiwork?"

"She's alive, isn't she?" she replied with a careless tone. She swept her hair off her shoulder in a snotty way. "I did a good job."

"You can't even do a proper blood transfusion," Takuto said snidely, rummaging through his bag to procure the instruments necessary to do a transfusion.

"She's alive," she repeated.

Takuto got to his knees in front of Mio. Madara watched him from his seat in front of the futon, his arms folded over his chest.

Takuto drew the blanket back and gently pushed Mio onto her back. She sighed, but did not wake. He glanced at the Motou priestess in distrust. "Should she be here?"

"She is trustworthy," Madara answered.

The Kuronuma medic pulled out a thin hose and a pair of needles. He inserted one needle through a vein in his inner forearm, pinching it as the blood started to spill. He changed his blood type as it left his body and molded more with the black water in his system. He cleaned the inside of Mio's arm before pushing the needle through her vein and beginning the transfusion.

He pulled out gauze and a small knife.

"What happened to her face?" asked Madara.

"Part of the purification ceremony involves rebirth," Yayoi began. "Mio was too strong for a single person to hold underwater and Ayuka thought it might be best to render her unconscious…" Lowering her voice, she finished, "…by slamming her face into a rock."

"You are savages," Takuto cursed.

"We are not the savages! We do not live on a mountain and eat people! We do not possess the power of monsters! We are believers!" she argued. "Don't you dare call us savages!"

"The temple was founded on the basis of protection," Takuto spat. "The First Shugosha would have never harmed another in any form to initiate them into her household. Motou Ayuka turned a temple of protection into one of fear and death. Savagery is when you stand by as a girl is stripped bare and tortured before the eyes of every priest and priestess in this building. You watched her tortured and drowned and did nothing."

"You do not even deny that you lot are cannibals," she remarked, sounding proud.

"Enough, Yayoi," said Madara evenly.

"He insulted me!"

"You drained her of her blood and drowned her," Madara pointed out. "She was not to be harmed."

"She was supposed to undergo the Purification Ceremony to marry my father! She agreed to it, nobody forced her, this was her decision!" Yayoi complained. "She was told the Purification Ceremony was about the divide between life and death, she accepted what that meant and did not make a move to get away. This was not our temple's fault, this was hers."

"The reason I am here and your country still has the protection of the Uchiha and Ito clan is because of her," Madara told her. "Your mistress has nothing to hold over me with my brother gone. Know that I will not hesitate to kill every shinobi under her command if she continues to cross me."

Takuto glimpsed at the young priestess once he finished his transfusion. She stared at Madara, scandalized. "You would not attack an entire country for a single person!" she stated.

"I would attack an entire country for far less," he answered, then rubbed his temples with his forefinger and thumb. "Go to your mistress, I'm weary of you."

She huffed. "I'm going," she announced, heading to the door where she stopped. "I'm going, but father and Ayuka-sama are hosting a feast for Gouki-san's return. She wants everyone in attendance. It's tomorrow evening."

Takuto tugged off the bandages around her wrists and found a badly healed cut. It was basic medical ninjutsu and Yayoi could not even accomplish it. He produced a small knife.

"Hold her down," he told Madara. "This might wake her."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm fixing the priestess's mistakes," he said. "Now, hold her down. Use all of your strength. If she wakes, calm her. She was almost drowned. She might have a fit at the sight of her own blood."

Madara pressed his hands down on her shoulders and she shifted under his hold, frowning uncomfortably.

"Hold her down."

The Uchiha nodded.

Takuto wrapped a hand a few inches above the scarred flesh, prepared to hold it in place if she woke and tried to jerk it out from under his. He cast a final glance at the Uchiha before he begun to cut along the scar Yayoi's handiwork left behind.

Mio made a strangled noise and attempted to move her arm, but he applied pressure to it. He decided to do it quickly and moved the knife down, making a quick and easy cut.

She woke with a gasp and fear took root in her. She was looking everywhere, but not seeing that she was safe. She attempted to jerk her arm away, beginning to wheeze. Her struggle was growing more panicked to the point she was letting out frightened sounds.

"Stop! Stop!" she repeated, scared.

"Talk to her," Takuto ordered, biting down on his thumb until he drew blood. He let a few droplets fall into the open wound and she screamed. He ran his bleeding thumb against her, moving it up slowly, cauterizing the laceration on her wrist before the blood spilled and made a mess of the floor.

"Mio," Madara began. "You're not in danger. Takuto is healing your wounds!"

"It hurts!" she cried.

Madara glared at Takuto and the Kuronuma shrugged. "She's not wrong, it's supposed to."

"Make haste," he bit out.

She screamed out again and with the pain, she spoke a name, her aunt's—the woman that tortured her for days until her back was bloody, infected, and raw. Her eyes were open, but she was still asleep and she was dreaming her nightmares and falling before her demons.

He finished mending her wrist, leaving a red line against her skin. He touched her forehead, cheek, neck and felt a thin layer of sweat starting to form. She was growing warmer, much warmer than what was normal. He tried her pulse again, which had been normal, and saw that it was erratic. He cursed and dug out Okimi's concoction from his things.

"What is wrong with her?"

"Mio overcame very demanding training over the past three years. She was expected to learn what the other Kuronuma learned in a lifetime in a short amount of time. She suffered the repercussions," he answered in explanation, uncorking the jug and putting it to her mouth. "Mio can reproduce black water in her body, but every so often, she can't and suffers a period of extreme illness that, if left untreated, could result in her death. The black water is like your chakra, you run out, you die. Simple." A bit of the liquid rolled from her lips and Madara tried to wipe it, but Takuto stopped him by doing it himself. It would have burned him. "The contents of this jug are a remedy to that problem. It reintroduces black water into her system. If she gets enough, she should be able to mold it and produce more. It takes time, and she is completely vulnerable while she is undergoing the recovery period, but it saves her life."

Mio coughed and shifted uncomfortably as the liquid passed down her throat. "It would be incredibly stupid of her to die now."

"She is reckless," Madara pointed out. "It is unlike her to be so reckless."

"Have you met her grandfather?"

"He chased me out of three different countries," the Uchiha remarked. "We met."

"You can say he awakened the latent gene in her," Takuto answered, then smiled, "but she's learned to have fun. The children on the mountain loved her. I never would have expected it, but they're surprisingly drawn to her—the children." He laughed at the memory of Mio being chased around by a mob of children around Minako's age. She liked to play with them, though she never admitted it. "Minako introduced her to all of them."

"Taiga's daughter?"

Takuto nodded. "I heard Taiga was on this island, I have not seen him."

"He does as he pleases."

He had wanted to tell him that his wife and daughter were safe since he'd send a coded message to the Iron Country that went unanswered due to the Mikazuki-Uchiha alliance intercepting all correspondences leaving and entering neutral country.

Mio twisted out from under Madara's hold and went back to lying on her side. The concoction worked quickly and she was resting peacefully.

Takuto's eyes fell on her other wrist. He wouldn't be able to sleep if he left her wrist to scar, so he pushed her onto her back again and moved to the other side of her. He gave Madara a look and the Uchiha put his hands on Mio's shoulders, his eyes lowering to her bruised face.

Takuto cleaned his knife and burned the edge with a candle he lit. He tore the gauze from her wrist and got to work.

The nightmares were prevalent in sleep. She dreamt of fighting beneath the surface, her face throbbing in pain, wrists bleeding profusely, and breathing in water. The strong arms holding her under belonged to Mikazuki Gouki. She clawed at his arms and kicked at the water, but her strength was never enough. He was a Kuronuma too. His father was Nishiki, the strongest Kuronuma to have lived only second to the First Shugosha, and he would have taught him the secret techniques of their clan. He would have trained him himself. And his mother was Ayuka, a fit with her husband in terms of strength and clever. Gouki would always win.

She opened her eyes with a gasp and scrambled out of her seat, moving until she hit a wall. She was breathing heavily, looking around. She saw two other futon apart from the one she had abandoned in her fright.

Takuto and Madara both raised their heads and stared at her half asleep. Takuto pushed himself out of the bed, grabbing her blankets. He wrapped them around her tightly as a yawn escaped him.

"I'm here, you're safe," he said, reaching out to put his arms around her.

She hugged him, but her eyes searched for Madara's face. She tightened her hold on Takuto, feeling strange when he smiled in her direction. Her chest felt tight. She was happy to see him after everything that had happened, the argument and his leaving without saying anything. He had been furious, but it seemed everything would be fine between them.

"Your ears are red," Takuto whispered.

She pushed him away. "I have a fever," she said lowly. "My ears can be red."

"We need to talk, Mio."

She didn't see why her ears needed to be the subject of any conversation. "We don't."

"It will be a short talk," he promised.

"Tell me now," she said. She didn't want to go to sleep dreading the conversation.

"Mikazuki Gouki is here," he said, surprising her. "Did you know?"

She nodded, his name alone made her tense. "He's Nishiki's son. Everything makes sense now. Ayuka gave him the artifacts so that he can take them from the island."

"He returned mine," Madara said, sitting up.

"Why would he do that?" Mio asked.

"He said that he would return your artifacts if you asked."

She was baffled. "Ask for my artifacts? What does he want in return?"

They were silent. She didn't want to think what he wanted. She barely survived the Purification Ceremony, she needed to rest, but she was wary of the nightmares.

"Where are we?" she asked, settling comfortably against the wall. She would stay up a little longer to sort her thoughts. "Another prison?"

"The temple," Madara answered, standing.

"Where are you going?" she asked suddenly.

"Out," he said, sliding the door shut noisily after stepping out.

Her insides twisted.

"Was it his brother you wanted to marry or him?" Takuto asked, the question taking her by surprise.

"His brother. Izuna." She smiled. "Madara gave me his blessing to marry him. I wanted to tell you, but I never had the opportunity."

"That was nice of him," Takuto remarked.

"What is with that tone?"

"He really wants the best for his brother, that's nice to know," he answered.

"He cares a lot about his brother."

"Isn't it funny that we're on an island where two brothers went to war over one woman?" He laughed.

"Why are you bringing that up?"

Takuto shrugged with a laugh. "I just thought it was funny." He patted her on the shoulder. "Get some sleep, Mio. We have a feast tomorrow evening. Your future husband is hosting. Did I tell you I caught him rummaging through a woman's skirts yesterday?"

"I do not care what he does."

"You should be wary he doesn't stray, you wouldn't want another woman to win his favor."

He wanted to make a point, not that he had not finished making it before when both he and Madara told her that her plan was stupid. Madara had told her he wouldn't be helping her with any of it, so it surprised her to see him in the room.

"Stop it."

"That is what you wanted, no?"

"I only need his power within this country. It will be to our benefit."

"You will regret doing this."

"I don't want to fight with you Takuto."

"We won't fight, just really think about it. I don't want you to sleep with him. Madara doesn't want you to sleep with him. Shin would have killed him. You heard what he did to Tasuku from Kurata Castle? Pulled his eyes out and tried to force him to swallow them and it had been for looking at you wrong."

She wouldn't deny that her grandfather was overprotective when it came to men. "He wanted to make you disappear."

"See? And I genuinely wanted to spend forever with you."

That surprised her. She never thought of spending forever with him, she was curious about him. She wanted to kiss him because being with him made her feel strangely. When she first met him she didn't feel like herself around him, but it had been short lived. She enjoyed their conversations and thought his mouth was perfect, but she knew it wouldn't work. She didn't know how she knew, only that it was the truth.

"What changed your mind?" she asked, curiously.

"When I found out we share grandchildren," he answered with a frown. "Shin threatened me outside the house, told me our children make beautiful children together and that we would make ugly children. He made sure to emphasize it."

"That snake," she cursed. How much of her life had her grandfather plotted on the Fate Sphere? She looked at Takuto. "He could be lying."

"I know that now, but at the time, I wanted him to stay away from me. Did you notice he forged whenever I was in the house?"

"He also sharpened the weapons."

"And polished them."

"Did you ever catch him chopping wood?"

"Yes. He made it my business to see how well he handled an axe."

"He must have butchered your image of him."

"His image remains unsullied, despite the subtle threats. He was only looking out for you. He wants the best outcome for you," he replied. "I don't blame him. In his position I would have done the same, wouldn't you?"

She agreed, but said, "He's embarrassing."

"He's family."

She laughed.

The door opened and Madara returned, he looked at them and went straight to his futon.

"I wonder what grandfather is doing now," she said aloud.

"Hounding someone out of a country," Madara answered.

"Accurate," Takuto commented with a smirk.

She laughed and stood, deciding to go back to her futon. Takuto followed to his own, making himself comfortable under the blankets.

"What is wrong with your grandfather?" asked Madara.

"Nothing," she said. "He's perfect."

"On the mountain, people would have killed you for suggesting there was something wrong with Shinya-sama."

"Isn't he the traitor that killed his brother?"

"Not much of a traitor if his brother is alive and Ayuka's husband," said Mio in Shin's defense.

"Ayuka's husband?"

"And Mikazuki Gouki is their son."

Madara sat up. "What?"

Mio and Takuto turned away from him at the same time. "Goodnight."

The temple disappointed Mio when none of its inhabitants owned a deck of cards for Hanafude. In an effort to make it up to her, a couple of priests gave her a board to play Go. Madara had been teaching her how to play all morning and Yayoi, the foul one, had been complaining about it the entire time. Takuto had spent the time reading and observing Mio. She had shown signs of recovery that morning when they had gone running, but the illness attached to her condition was deceptive. Her sudden burst of health could have been a coincidence, but she had been doing well. Even her temperature had leveled.

There was a certain level of patience in Madara's tone as he was teaching her another special move and she was quietly watching him, not the board.

Takuto and Yayoi exchanged looks and insults before leaving the room together, surprising Mio by the decision.

"I'm going to steal your friend like you stole mine," Yayoi told her.

"I'm not your friend, Yayoi," Madara answered.

"He is your friend. He only won't admit it," Mio said. "I can tell that you are important."

Madara glared at Mio.

"You're easy to read," she responded to his dark look.

"Stop talking and learn something," he snapped.

"We're going," Takuto announced.

Yayoi took Takuto to the kitchens. There were so many people running around the large room that walking through it would have been difficult, but once they had settled near an older woman dicing fruit, they were comfortable picking at the large platters she was filling.

"What is with you men and that one girl?" Yayoi complained. "I haven't met one that is adverse to that woman."

"Are you jealous?" asked Takuto, finding it curious. "Have you seen how men look onto you? I doubt you are without a lover."

"We are not talking about me," she remarked. "We are talking about her."

"Mio represents a lot of power. Nobody cares who she is, only what she can provide. They look to her with eyes hungry for that power," Takuto explained. "It probably doesn't hurt that she is pretty."

"I'm not talking about those fools," Yayoi replied. "Madara treats her differently. Delicately. He threatened Ayuka this morning, did you know that? He told her the same thing he told me. He would take the Ito and Uchiha clans and wage war against us."

"Mio's his Shugosha. The artifact he holds is alive through her chakra and with that chakra, we, as guardians, can sense more of her so long as she cannot control her power." Takuto stole a slice of apple. "When she first arrived to the island, she did nothing but cry."

"She was pathetic. For someone with that much strength to cry?" Yayoi huffed. "It was embarrassing to know she was Shugosha, that Ayuka-sama was supposed to serve under her."

"You lived sheltered, surrounded by people willing to do all you asked them to and you are jealous of one girl that was dealt a terrible fate by your mistress because she is protected?" he asked. This was absurd. He didn't understand Yayoi's grudge against Mio unless she was in love with one of the two Uchiha brothers and neither paid her any mind because they were so fixated on Mio. "Her parents were killed by Mikazuki Gouki when she was nine, she risked her life by putting the blame on another, she has been chased all around the continent, captured and tortured by her own family. She's been an object to everyone to be inherited, to be won, to be taken. She is not a person to them. She is a thing and she knows this and she has suffered through it trying to stay strong. Your mistress has caused her great pain. She has ordered more than one person she loves dead and Mio has been powerless to stop it."

"Ayuka-sama did those things for a good cause," she said defensively. "Mio was going to become a tyrant. She was going to take everything from her. Ayuka-sama earned her position as guardian and she wants to pass down her legacy to the person she thinks deserves it. She would kill my mistress when all she has done has been good. She's served the Kuronuma clan through three generations of Shugosha and she has done it faithfully. Things were taken from her when she became guardian. She only wants to get them back. She is not evil like you think her to be. She has done so much good in her life, with me and Kikumi and so many other children."

Takuto thought it was a shame that Yayoi was so brainwashed by Ayuka that she could not see the terrible things she committed.

"No matter what we do, Ayuka and Mio will confront each other and only one of them will be victorious," he told her. "You must make your peace with that. I have."

Yayoi lowered her eyes, a sad look in them. "Ayuka is a mother to me. When my father killed my mother, she picked me up. I will have nobody without her."

"Your position is not that different from Mio's. No father or mother, her clan where she found home almost completely obliterated. She is trying to save her grandfather, trying to protect her guardians and her clan, and she doesn't care that she has to marry your father to accomplish it. All she wants is to stop the persecution of her clan by yours. There are a dozen orphaned children on the mountain and she blames herself that it happened."

"She should have given Ayuka what she wanted," Yayoi stated. "She could have avoided everything if she had."

"Listen to yourself," he said, disgusted by her words. "You don't have the responsibility Mio has as Shugosha. She has to safeguard ten powerful artifacts by passing them onto others that she alone has to keep safe. She has ten artifacts to protect, nine people to protect, and she has to do it in a time when your clan's Artifact War will show the rest of the shinobi clans in this world that they exist and that her future son can change the line of succession. She will never rest. None of her guardians will ever be safe. The Kuronuma clan could die out and it would be Ayuka's fault."

"That is her fate to shoulder because she would not give the artifacts to Ayuka-sama. They are supposed to go to their true Shugosha."

Takuto tossed the fruit he had picked up back into the pile, hearing the older woman complain. "I am done trying to explain this to you," he said. "You are so determined to stand behind your mistress that you cannot see wrong in her actions. She's attacking a girl, one that has not lived a dozen lives like she, because she would grow up to not let her do whatever the hell she wanted with the artifacts. Mio came to take the artifact from Ayuka because she's abusing it. She's revealing to the world that the artifacts exist. She's started a war because her husband was killed and his father did not acknowledge her son to inherit. She thinks she is entitled to all these things and you believe it because it is her word, but think about it, how do you know that Mio was not supposed to inherit her artifacts and live as Shugosha when you have not once bothered to know her. She is a thing to you. She is a person to me and Madara and to Izuna. You cannot throw a tantrum because you don't think she deserves to be spoken to kindly or treated gently. They grew up with that her."

"You could be wrong about Mio," Yayoi said stubbornly. "She could turn into a tyrant."

"The only one to blame when she turns into a monster will be Ayuka."

Takuto stormed out of the kitchens, having had enough with the ignorant girl and returned up the staircase, stomping towards Mio's temporary room, but he stopped short. Madara was standing outside.

He pointed to the sealed doors. "Who?"

"The pig," he answered lowly.

Takuto leaned forward to listen.

"…for two days," he heard Enki announce.

"Two days what?" asked Takuto beneath his breath.

"They will marry," Madara answered, irritated. "He wants Mikazuki Gouki to be in attendance, so he moved the date."

"I have a surprise for you during today's feast," Enki went on. "Wear this. It is quality silk. The silver is from the Lightning Country and the jewels from a land far from this one."

Enki left the room, casting a look at Madara and a fearful one at Takuto. The two filed into the room. Mio was holding red robes decorated in gold in her arms. Atop them was a long chain necklace with large red jewel and matching earrings.

"Are you wearing that?" asked Takuto, pinching the necklace between his forefinger and thumb. "This is a blatant way for them to steal the rest of your artifacts."

Mio stared at the trinkets blankly. "He was strangely kind," she said, then looked to the two of them, "which one of you threatened him."

"We agreed I wasn't going to help you marry the swine," Madara remarked.

"I don't need your help marrying him," she told him. "I can do that on my own."

"Everything else then!"

"You threatened him again, didn't you?"

"I remember seeing the two of you playing Go together and you were doing it peacefully," Takuto reminded them, not understanding how they could find ways to annoy each other until one or both of them was shouting. "Can we go back to that?"

"He thinks he needs to hold my hand as I marry Enki," Mio argued.

"Would you like me to take you to his bed too?" Madara challenged.

"Be my guest. You can hold my robe for me."

Madara shot her a black look.

"I was the one that threatened him," Takuto admitted, receiving glares from the two. "I told him I was going to skin him alive and eat his concubine."

"You told him you would eat his concubine?" Mio sounded surprisingly exasperated.

"I figured someone needed to do it. He was on the woman in the back of the building," he told her. "How do you expect to control him if he is in every other woman's bed?"

Mio sucked in an audible breath and obvious sign she had not thought that one through.

"He will take you where he wants, he's an animal," Madara said, forever irritated by the thought. "Are you prepared for that?"

"I am prepared for all of it, unsavory as the situation is, I am going to marry him in two days' time," she said firmly. "The lengths I am willing to take to make my plan work are not any of your business."

Takuto took a conscious step back. "That does not stop the plan from being stupid."

She rounded on him. "Then you are with him?" she demanded, a fire sparked in her. "You will not help me even if it means helping all of us?"

"No, Mio, I'm not going to help you ruin your life," he told her.

"Leave," she ordered, pointing to the entrance. "I do not want to see your faces unless I have to."

Takuto's chest ached. The anger in her words stung. His decision hurt her. He hesitated. She would be alone. His job was to be at her side and keep her safe. He wanted to do that more than anything with Mikazuki Gouki in the Sun Country and because she could suddenly collapse.

Madara took a threatening step toward Mio and she backed away, dropping Enki's gifts between them. "You've lost my protection." He took her hand and placed his artifact in it. "And my favor."

She stared up at him wide-eyed. "What?"

And his hand left hers as he turned away from her. She reached out to grab his arm, but Takuto caught her. He saw the hurt in her eyes when Madara left the room without his artifact.

"You can't stop him from renouncing his position."

She remembered her anger, though her eyes were wet, and jerked her arm away. "Leave me!"

Takuto followed Madara out the door, sliding it shut. He heard a thump when she collapsed to her knees and the sound of a sob ripping from her throat. She was alone with her stupid plan. Nobody would stop her now.

He felt terrible. He believed in her strength, but she had endured too much in a short amount of time to expect her to be strong. He thought of wrapping his arms around her, soothing her tremors, and asking for forgiveness. However, he stood by his decision. She was relying on impulses to get her out of a tough situation without considering the consequences. He wanted to spare her the grief of becoming the woman of a man that would not love her—to whom she would be an object of power and an occasional warm body. She didn't see past the idea that manipulating Enki through marriage was not the only option. They were three people. Something would have come up.

He faced forward. Madara's hands were fisted at his sides, knuckles white with the strain.

"You can stop her from doing it," Takuto suggested.

"And spare her the lesson?" Madara snapped. "Let her make her mistakes and regret her stupidity, and she will learn."

Mio was in a miserable state when she took the empty seat to Enki's left. She arrived in the silk robes he had given her, but not the heavy jewels. She refused to remove her artifacts because she was now carrying four and a part of her was still weeping on the inside because of it. She didn't understand why it hurt so much when Madara placed the calligraphy brush in her hand. She didn't know where that wretched cry came from, only knew that Takuto turning his back on her had fueled it and she wept until her eyes stung and her voice was hoarse.

Everyone with even a modicum of importance within their respective clan was present in the hall. She recognized several familiar faces among the Mikami, Motou, Mikazuki, and Ito clan. She could name the few that had been introduced to her, but she tried to seem indifferent to how upsetting the bustling environment made her. She was in no mood for festivities.

Madara sat beside Taiga, both drinking. Yayoi was at Ayuka's side as always, making sure her sake cup was full. Gouki sat across his priestess mother surrounded by other Mikazuki shinobi. Seiko of the Mikami clan was drinking to Enki's right, conversing with the woman beside him.

She searched the entire hall for Takuto, but saw that he was not present. She wondered if he preferred to stay away from the clamoring to avoid her. She had spoken rashly when she had asked him to leave and never show his face before her and now she worried she had ruined their friendship in a single turn.

She blinked up, feeling tears threatening to pour out. She didn't know what she was doing anymore. She was marrying Enki in two days. One day after the night was over. She was growing anxious. She didn't want to marry him.

She looked at him and knew that she didn't want to marry him.

Enki caught her staring and leaned close. "I do remember we had an agreement," he whispered. "I brought your Kuronuma here, you have been involved in the country's meetings, and you were given the freedom to move around. I held my end."

Turning away from him, she felt her skin crawl. "I will hold mine."

Moving even closer, he whispered, "I will look forward to it." He straightened in his seat and oddly pleasant smile on his face. "There is something I want to get out of the way before I send for you, of course."

"What?"

"You are without experience," he told her. "I do not have the time to waste to teach you what I like, so you will learn."

"Learn?" she asked, shocked.

His expression darkened. "That Kuronuma of yours threatened to skin me."

"What have you done to him?" she demanded in a whisper.

"The question is what you will do to get him back," he replied. "I can order him dead if you disobey."

Mio reached her limit. She failed Takuto by allowing him to wander into a trap. He was in danger now as Madara was then. The shinobi to her other side had set his blade between them and she reached for it faster than the room could react. With her free hand, she grabbed Enki by the leftover wisps of hair on his balding scalp and dragged the blade to his neck. Every Motou shinobi made a move to retaliate, but she pressed the knife closer to his neck.

"Leave her!" ordered Enki, panicked. "Do not touch her!"

Ayuka rose from her seat. "Don't be silly, Mio," she said slowly. "You shouldn't do this, you are ruining the feast. We worked so hard to prepare this for Gouki."

Madara and Taiga stared in interest along with the rest of the Uchiha and Ito clan.

"You are ruining the feast, Mio," Enki said. "If you anger our guest—"

Ayuka took a cautious step forward. "Give me the sword, Mio."

"Kill him."

Mio lifted her eyes and met with Gouki's. He spoke. She recognized his voice and the effect it had on her. Her hand was trembling. She couldn't shake the fear, but she tried. She tightened her grip around the hilt of the blade, exerting no control over her strength and felt it starting to break.

"What are you saying, Gouki?" Ayuka snapped. "This is the king of our country."

"And he is useless," Gouki answered. "He is not needed."

"This is not what was agreed!" Enki bellowed.

"Kill him, Mio," Gouki told her. "You do not want to marry him, do you? Kill him."

If she killed him at his bequest, she felt something might change in her and she removed the sword from his neck, stabbing it to the ground.

Gouki smirked.

Enki shoved her forward harshly and she tripped over her skirts. She hit the ground hard.

"Do what you want with her," Enki ordered, and his men grabbed Mio forcefully by the arms. A few others emerged from the gathered group, meaning Enki spoke specifically to them as everyone else looked skeptical. He turned to Ayuka before leaving out a different door. "We will speak of this tomorrow."

"Everyone out!" Ayuka shouted. "Now!"

The guests rose and started to leave as Mio was slammed to the ground again, her arms restrained at her back. She struggled against the men pinning her down, but one stabbed his knee to her back. Sharp pain shot up her spine and she cried out. She struggled futilely, watching people go and growing desperate.

"Madara!" she shouted when she saw him. Taiga had already gone.

Madara stopped.

"Help me," she pleaded, terrified of what might happen to her once everyone left the hall. Her arms were still trembling. She saw him staring down at her without emotion and she knew he would not help. "Help Takuto. Please, help Takuto."

Madara left wordlessly.

Ayuka stood at the entrance, the last to leave with the exception of the seven men staying behind. She sighed when she stared down at her, a disappointed expulsion of breath—the emotion reading in her beautiful face.

"She is marrying in two days," she told them. "Don't touch her face and if you break her, you fix her. Understand?"

Mio screamed in fury.

"And keep her silent," she continued. "I don't want to be disturbed."

There was laughter all around.

"And Mio, I do pray you will learn plenty." She slid the doors shut with a smile gracing her red lips. "Enjoy."

Mio was twisted around and her robe ripped down the middle. She abandoned her fear. She was a Kuronuma and Kuronuma weren't weak. She didn't need anyone's help.

Closing her eyes shut as she felt the weight of a man on her body and four pairs of hands pinning down each arm, she activated the Time Sphere. Its shield went up instantly, the force of it as it erected around her sent the shinobi flying. She watched them crash into and through the walls and slide across the floor on their backs with audible complaints as she rose to her feet.

She deactivated the shield, surprised that imbuing more chakra into the sphere provide a complete defense. She tightened the ruined remains of her robes around her body and retied the sash around her waist to keep it in place.

The Mikazuki shinobi she sent crashing through the walls reemerged through the rubble, behind them in the adjacent rooms the servants went off screaming. The Mikami shinobi on the floor jumped to his feet, quick to draw his blade. The two Motou shinobi simultaneously tugged on gloves.

"The Kuronuma power comes from the blood; do not shed a drop of her blood."

The Mikazuki attacked her first, using their poison weapons skillfully, followed by the Mikami, who proved quick enough to challenge her reflexes and waved a sword as a weapon. The Motou used taijutsu she recognized as that she learned from Uzuki. She avoided the Mikazuki's blades, but when the Mikami shinobi twisted his sword around to hit her with the back of the hilt, she slipped down and swept her leg under him. He dropped his hold on his weapon as he fell and she caught it midair, bothered by its length. She didn't like swords, only fought well with daggers, but she made due with her limits.

One Motou shinobi nearly caught her off guard after she managed to deflect the Mikazukis onslaught of attacks and thrown them back. He came out of nowhere aiming a punch to her ribcage, one she suspected would have shattered one or two of her ribs, but she caught him with the back of the hilt in the face. As he dropped, the other Motou punched her in the stomach, knocking the air out of her lungs. She felt her body lifting off the ground and crashing an instant later. She held onto her sword.

She fought against the pain and jumped back onto her feat, activating her Black sphere with a flick of her finger against the dangling black pearl.

She cut the inside of her palms and smothered the blood over her fists. She charged them before they could lurched at her and saw they shifted to defend themselves, arming themselves against the blood boiling in her fisted hands. The Mikami shinobi used a water technique that slammed her to the wall and soaked her to the bone. Despite his efforts, steam continued to rise from her hands. His attack had no effect. She went after him for trying and punched him straight in the face. He landed on his back screeching as he clawed at his burning face until the skin begun to peel away and he stopped, the entire room suddenly falling silent.

A part of her felt a thrill run along her bloodstream, her heart was pounding wildly.

She kicked the next attacker through another wall, elbowed the one that followed in the face and broke his nose, the two that followed became the targets of the little black needles she spat in their direction that seared right through their throats and left them dead.

There were four shinobi remaining and her anger peaked. She took kunai and shuriken from the man with half a face and threw them towards the three Mikazuki who shot them down with their own projectiles. It gave her a second long opening to force the Motou shinobi whose weight she had felt atop her body to his knees, her arms position around his neck before she gaze a slight tug. It cracked. She pushed him to the floor, stepping over his body.

She picked up one of the kunai near her.

"If you come quietly, things will go smooth—"

Faster than he or the other two Mikazuki could react she threw the kunai in her hand and embedded it in his throat. The blood flowed from the wound; he consciously jerked the kunai out, but started to choke on his own blood, dropping to the floor twitching wildly. She stepped over to him, kicking him across the head. It snapped with a disgusting crunch.

One of the Mikazuki shinobi took a step back, but the other came at her. He swung his poisoned blade with enviable skill, but his movements were slow. She caught his wrist, the one holding the dagger and snapped it. He swung his free hand, aiming to punch her in the side, but she caught it as well and broke it. He cursed at her, spat at her feet, and she rewarded him with a quick death.

The last Mikazuki tried to run away. She reached for the sword and threw it as one might a spear. It went straight through his heart and he dropped to the floor.

Breathing heavily, she sank into a seat in the center of the hall. Everything around her destroyed, plates and cups smashed to pieces, food littered everywhere, rubble tumbling down broken walls. Her heart pounded wildly.

She heard screams and the sound of heavy footfalls approaching the hall. She did not lift her eyes, only stared at the ground preparing for the worst. The rustling of armor, the thick stench of blood and burning flesh prominent in the room, and still the footsteps drew near.

The servants were screaming.

She saw sandaled feet stepping over one of the gaping holes in the wall and watched them approach. He led a trail of red all the way to her and dropped something heavy before her. It rolled over like a ball, but settled—a head, Enki's head. His terrified expression forever frozen on his face made her look up to Madara, who was drench in another's blood.

"You killed him?" she whispered.

"Did you want him to live?"

Mio stood on shaky legs. "But my plan," she said, stunned. "My plan."

"It is done," he stated, moving to her. "He would have died regardless."

Enki ordered the seven shinobi to bring her great harm. She had killed them for the sake of her own honor and because the fact that it was meant to subdue her irritated her. She had killed them to scare Enki into a different agreement, one that did not involve anything of a sexual nature. She had thought up her plan, fixing everything that had fallen apart to make it work, but it wouldn't work at all if Enki was dead.

"Why?" she yelled, startling herself with the powerful emotion in her voice. "Why did you kill him?"

"He planned to break you in, Mio! Is that not enough reason?" he retorted.

"You left me here after I asked for your help! You abandoned me—!"

"I believed in your strength," he interjected, wrapping a hand around her arm. That strange feeling returned. "You proved it. You did not need my help. There isn't a scratch on you."

Mio pulled away from his hold, too conscious of the heat coming off it and the blood soaking into her clothes. "You ruined everything," she cried. frustrated. "With what Gouki said this evening, it would have been easy to sway him out of her favor. I could have gotten back our freedom. We could have returned to the continent."

"You were not supposed to become Enki's wife," he assured her. "I would have killed him. I would have killed him, Mio, if he so much as breathed your name in his sleep."

She swallowed audibly, hands fisted at her side. "I—"

"Stop, Mio. He is better off dead."

He moved closer to her, moving his hand down the back of her head to the nape of her neck. She didn't move her hands up to push him. Her palms were still bleeding and she could hurt him, but she also knew she couldn't stand being so close to him.

She didn't understand.

"Why?" she demanded, her fury peaking. "What I did had nothing to do with you? You wanted nothing to do with this plan! You told me to do what I wanted! So, why? Why did you have to interfere?"

His grip on the nape of her neck tightened and his eyes darkened. She followed a droplet of blood down the bridge of his nose with her eyes and felt it fall onto her chin. She was too aware of how close they were together and how naturally her heart reacted by speeding up.

"You expected me to stand by as that swine put his hands on you—"

"That was not your choice to make!" she interrupted, surprised she sounded coherent despite her clouded mind. "That was my decision! I am not your woman! And if I was, even then, you cannot decide what I do or don't do! I am not your spy! You do not command me anymore! Why did you have to kill him? Why would you do this to me?"

"I want you."

Mio felt winded, as if she had taken another punch to the gut. The three words she never imagined would come out of Madara's mouth did and judging by the presence of seven dead bodies and herself, he said it to her. It was stupid to think he hadn't when they had been arguing. She was left stunned, but she felt it pang in her chest.

"We are going," he said quickly, not giving her the time to process it.

He took her by the wrist, but she didn't budge. She tugged him to her and acted on the impulse to kiss him—a soft, innocent kiss. She drew away from him hastily, but he pulled her back in place, holding onto the nape of her neck as he returned her chaste kiss with an intensity that left her insides aquiver. She felt everything as she tasted the blood and wine on his lips and it was good—a powerful sensation that quickened her heart and further clouded her mind. She could think of nothing other than kissing him. Madara and his firm lips on hers guiding her. If she had doubted his proclamation, however clearly he had spoken it, she no longer did.

…But she remembered Izuna and pushed against him, all feeling leaving her cold. She didn't need to speak his brother's name as she stared up into his eyes for it to be clear in his mind.

They made a mistake and they couldn't even look at each other because of it.

Kuronuma Shin meditated often while on the road. He forced them to make many stops on the journey to the Iron Country, one that included a detour that took them to the destroyed remains of a Kurata without snow. It was surprising for Izuna to see it as he did that day, the three villages, once filled with people, were abandoned and its homes and shops falling apart. The Kurata Castle he remembered with its high, protective walls was now a mountain of rubble. He followed Shin through the confusing, interconnected valleys of Kurata until they reached the end of the main, dirt road. Beyond a giant rift, he saw flat land before a mountain face and saw that there was once a bridge connecting the mountain across to the valleys. It had been cut, the remains hung on either side.

"Mt. Hyōga," he told Izuna.

Small wisps of smoke rose from the destruction beyond the other end of the bridge. The snow was still melting there and the cold still present in the breezes that swept through him.

Shin stood silent as he stared out across the rift for hours and before sunset, they journeyed to the Iron Country. They took a narrow bridge to reach its gates where a pair of samurai stood guard. Seeing Shin was enough for them to stand aside, but the Kuronuma waved them away.

"I want to speak to Keishuu."

One of the two guards went off to fetch Keishuu, leading Izuna to believe that might be the name of Mio's other guardian. As they waited, the samurai glancing at Izuna warily, Shin took the time to sit atop a rocky ledge with his arms folded over his chest and his eyes closed.

Izuna paced in his impatience.

Shin left his seat when an older man with graying strands of black hair crossed the gates. The Kuronuma greeted him and introduced him to Izuna as Murakami Keishuu, leader of the samurai and of the Iron Country.

"I did not expect to see you here again, Shinya-sama," said Keishuu. "Your granddaughter came several weeks back. She asked after you."

"How did she look?" asked Shin.

"Terrified," answered Keishuu.

Izuna remembered Mio as nothing short of fearful when he came to her. Fearful and devastated. The only thought that crossed his mind then was that he wanted to comfort her and now, he wanted to see her to make sure she was doing fine. Madara would no doubt take care of her, though he seemed reluctant at first to agree saying that he would have enough to worry about with overseeing both the Ito and Uchiha clan as well as keeping an eye on Taiga. He understood his brother had enough responsibility weighing down on him with Ayuka pressuring him to recapture the Sanbi. He agreed after Izuna reminded him that he had a responsibility as her guardian to protect her, thought it looked to him that all Madara had wanted was to stay away.

He figured his reluctance had had to do with that time Konoe captured Mio and he had gone to the Mikazuki camp in the Fire Country to help, only to face off with Mikazuki Gouki and learn that Mio had escaped. In the situation, if Madara had not shown up then, Mio would have probably been recaptured as more Mikazuki shinobi were going to go after the few that went initially. Taiga had shown up then, speaking of an alliance. The rest had fallen into place.

"What of my clan?" continued Shin, drawing Izuna's attention away from his thoughts.

"No Elders remain," Keishuu answered. "They need a leader, Shinya-sama. They need you to return to them, they will listen if you gather them."

Shin smiled bitterly. "They will have a leader, but that won't be me. Send my gratitude to the Uzumaki clan for coming here to aid the Senju in protecting our future."

Keishuu nodded. "What has brought you here?"

Shin fumbled with words. "My brother…Kuronuma Nishiki will be coming to the Iron Country." Keishuu's eyebrows knitted in disbelief. "He lives, yes, and has been operating from within the Earth Country. Mio has passed on his artifact to another; its new guardian is in danger. Pass my warning down to the Senju brothers, neither one of them should appear on the upcoming battlefield. Take the civilians from this country and move them to the Waterfall Country, send the brothers down as guards. Ito Takuei will find them. He will keep the civilians safe. He owes me a favor."

"Kuronuma Nishiki will bring war to neutral country?" asked Keishuu.

"The Artifact War ends in the destruction of your country." Shin did not mince words. "It ends here or it does not end ever."

Keishuu sighed. "You will be here?"

Shin nodded.

"You are asking too much of me, Shinya-sama."

"I tried everything to avoid this outcome," Shin said apologetically, "but it was unavoidable. The Kuronuma clan will rebuild your country. You have my word."

"Let this be the last I hear of the Artifact War while I still live," said Keishuu, agreeing with great reluctance. "You may have my country."

Izuna heard Keishuu order one of his samurai to start gathering all civilians in the country, entrusting him with the information regarding the Artifact War. He made no mention of Kuronuma Nishiki.

"Where will you go from here?" asked Keishuu.

"To the Earth Country," said Shin. "I have unfinished business there."

"With your brother I presume?"

Shin shrugged with a smile. "I have news from the Sun Country."

"When did you have time to have news delivered?" Izuna demanded. He had been watching Shin like a hawk, even when he was supposed to be resting. He knew he wasn't following around a clone and that there weren't any clones running around, so he didn't understand how he was gathering information.

"I have good ears?" Shin answered in a questionable tone.

"That makes no sense!"

"What is the news, Shinya-sama?"

"Motou Enki is dead," said Shin, looking at Izuna. "Killed by your brother."

Izuna was relieved to hear that Enki was dead and that Mio wouldn't have to marry him, but that made him wonder what sort of monstrosity Enki attempted to try his brother's hand.

"That was faster than you predicted," Keishuu commented.

"Some of us are more impatient than others," Shin replied. "Mikazuki Gouki is on the island with Ayuka. He is too close to Mio."

"I can return to the Sun Country," Izuna said immediately. He couldn't leave Mio or Madara to deal with Gouki alone. "Someone needs to tell Mio that war is coming to the Iron Country."

"Yes," said Shin. "You can go to the Sun Country after you come with me to the Earth Country. What you hear there is what you will take with you. Come, we have much to plan."

"You want to leave Mio in an island with Mikazuki Gouki?" demanded Izuna.

"Mio will endure it."

Shin bid Keishuu farewell and started walking away from the gates. Izuna followed him with a frown. He had half a mind to leave him there and return to the Sun Country, but something told him that if he tried, Shin would drag him back.

As the thought crossed Izuna's mind, Shin smiled at him.

"How are Madara and Mio?" asked Izuna. "If you received news from the Sun Country, you should know if anything has happened to them."

"The Ito clan is doing well. You should have asked after them. The young woman you left in charge was struggling, but Madara has been good help," Shin answered, avoiding the question. "Also, it looks like—"

"Did something happen to Madara and Mio?"

"No."

"Then, how are they?"

"Guilty, I would assume."

xl: If you enjoyed that last Madara and Mio scene, starting next chapter I am going to do my very best to guilt trip us all for liking it. Until then, I'm going to bed because my subtlety has been terrible these past few chapters, but hey, practice makes perfect.

To these wonderful people: MoonlightArrow, Loteva, angrypixels, and Aries01xD for reviewing the previous chapter!

Some things will make better sense next chapter. Here are some things you can look forward to:

- Nishiki's appearance.

- Ayuka's backup plan.

- And you might learn Shin's secret.

I will have a preview up on my LJ in 2-3 days because I have midterms to study for. :'( Spring break should be 4 weeks at least.

Thank you for reading!

…But she remembered Izuna and pushed against him, all feeling leaving her cold. She didn't need to speak his brother's name as she stared up into his eyes for it to be clear in his mind.

They made a mistake and they couldn't even look at each other because of it.