Chapter 53 | The Burning Forest
Mio squinted as soon as she opened her eyes, irritated by the consistent gusts of wind and water sliding down her face. She was slumped over Madara's back as he ventured through tangles of giant trees glistening with fresh rainwater. She recognized the terrain by its watery scent and knew they were somewhere in the Waterfall Country searching for the Ito clan.
The cloak drawn over her head shielded her from the droplets falling through the canopy of branches over their heads, but it felt stuffy, her body was running on a higher temperature than what was considered normal. There was more. There was something not sitting right in her stomach and all the movement was making things worse. She latched onto the front of Madara's shirt, alerting him of her woken state, and said with urgency, "We need to stop. I need to get off."
Madara landed atop the next branch and set her down. Mio sank to her knees and emptied the contents of her stomach over the ledge. She washed her mouth out with water and sat back against the tree, feeling the worse combination of lightheaded and dizzy possible. Even sitting, her mind felt like it were swimming in a violent sea.
"I have a condition," she began breathlessly, finding Madara staring down at her with his eyebrows drawn in apprehension.
He went down on one knee and said, "I know about your condition. Those shinobi in the Lightning Country were going on about seeing you safely to the Earth Country because of it."
"Why would they know about my condition?" she queried.
"Everyone knows about it," he told her, staring at her seriously. "Everyone knows you are with child."
She gave him a long, hard look. She had a belated reaction. "Eh?"
"You were married to Mikazuki Gouki for weeks," he said. "It's understandable."
"What?" she asked as she narrowed her eyes.
"There is no need for you to feel ashamed—"
"I'm not with child."
She knew her body. She figured that if something changed within it that she would catch it in time to ask for help. Besides, she did not spend all those weeks as Gouki's wife twiddling her thumbs. She was fortunate to find Kiyo, who was drafted from the Sun Country to aid Nishiki with his own illness, in Nishiki's castle and the old woman did her the favor of preparing a tea to prevent gestation. Had it not been for that, there would be a great chance she would be carrying Gouki's son, though she would not admit it to anyone else from then on, as it would be to her benefit.
She would have lied to Madara about it, but she did not want to.
"What?"
"I'm not carrying his child," she repeated forcefully, irritated by his shock. "I have a condition. It's a problem with the black water in my body. Like that time in the empty town where you fought Eito. I've felt the symptoms coming and going for some time and I thought I could avoid it, but I can't."
"What is going to happen?"
"I am going to get worse," she told him. "I won't be much help once I do, but there is still time before then." She stood up far too quickly that her vision blackened and her head felt as though it were full of air. She held onto the tree to steady herself. "It would be best if Nishiki and Ayuka believe I am with child."
"That is your plan, isn't it?"
"I don't have the Time Sphere, I cannot simply raise a shield and protect myself from any attack," she admitted. "I would rather not find myself in too terrible a state." There was a dull ache in her ankle where Gouki had stabbed her with his kunai. Sometimes it was numb and difficult to walk, sometimes she moved and pain ripped through it. It was a ghostly ache, but it reminded her of her hesitation and of her grandfather. It took her back to the real universe where she felt as though she were hurt beyond repair.
"You can take the sphere back," Madara told her. "I am not keeping it from you."
"I will not allow Ayuka or Nishiki to make you another target to hurt me," she said. "You are…" She confused herself with words. She did not want to say the wrong thing. She looked around, seeing Taiga was out of sight, and took a risk to kiss Madara underneath the shade of the large, flat leaves concealing them. "I don't want you to be killed."
If he died…she would…
Mio abandoned that thought as her drumming heart drowned it with noise. Regardless, she did not think she had a proper way of finishing it.
"I won't be killed by the likes of them," he promised, turning around to crouch. "Come on, we must keep going."
She patted his shoulder. "I can continue on my own. Just lead the way."
Madara nodded. He jumped to a high branch above, took it and swung from it onto another at a further distance. Mio went after him. She did not think any of her plans were particularly stupid. They had a tendency of putting her in danger, but if allowed to reach fruition, they would guarantee the safety of many. She was certain of that. However, hearing how reckless her ideas were, she wanted to start sharing them before acting on them impulsively. She figured that if she wanted Madara to stay out of danger, he might want the same and that it was a bit unfair of her to throw herself into danger so thoughtlessly.
Taiga appeared the closer they were to reaching the heart of the Waterfall Country where they stopped. They found shelter from a sudden rainstorm beneath a tangle of leaves and branches from a line of trees that formed an alcove behind their backs. Mio sank down into a seat atop the grassy floor to catch her breath. She did not feel as though she were in tiptop shape, not with her sides aching from the exertion. She drank water between breaths, though not enough to quench her sudden thirst.
"You should not be on your feet," said Taiga critically. "You shouldn't be on this journey."
"I wouldn't be on this journey if you had let me go with those shinobi," she bit out, but she was only being nasty because she was the one that started this trip and she planned to see it end. A mixture of rainwater and sweat ran down her face. "I would be in a bed, sleeping this off."
"I offered to continue carrying you," Madara said pointedly.
"I felt perfectly capable of making the trip on my own," she argued.
"Well, you won't be able to from here on out," Taiga replied, and then turned to Madara. "I can carry her the rest of the way. It isn't far from here, perhaps, another half a day if we don't stop or encounter any of the hunter clans."
"Hunter clans?" Mio asked, wheezing.
"That's what we're calling them—all the clans aligned against us," said Taiga, "There's a couple in every country and they're good at tracking people. Rumor has it the Hyuuga clan is one of the hunter clans in the Fire Country, so we'll have them to look forward to when we go back for Senju Hashirama and Uzumaki Nako."
The Hyuuga clan was one to avoid. Like the Uchiha, they possessed a formidable dōjutsu that gave them quite an advantage in battle and coupled with their famous Gentle Fist they were more than a little dangerous. She never had the honor of facing off against one, but knew Izuna had when they were younger and that had nearly ended badly. Most of the Uchiha clan had wanted to go against them, not only for Izuna but for all the shinobi that had been on the same mission. Eijiro had spoken against doing so. It was never to their benefit, making an enemy of the Hyuuga clan.
Madara scoped the area that Taiga dictated might guarantee a quicker, safer trip to the hidden village where the Ito clan was rumored to practice their arts. She heard from Madara that Taiga had found the Lightning Country to be a hotspot of information if one knew how to maneuver their way through it. She imagined he was following a lead for human trafficking ending in the Sun Country where Yayoi should have been and that perhaps, he had found the intel necessary to make the trip, though the following step had been finding a discreet way to travel since Nishiki put out official decree for all guardians to be captured. In the scrolls she had seen, she was referred to as the imperial princess and spoken of as if she had been captured by the Uchiha clan. Her retrieval had been stylized as of extreme importance and urgency. Her reward was rumored to be twenty times worth more than the capture one of her guardians.
Mio traveled on Taiga's back, weighed by the exhaustion of her illness and tricked by his movements into a debilitating sleep that only helped worsen her state. When she felt everything had stopped moving, she was listening to the sound of both Taiga and Madara's voices calling for her to wake. She felt cool water droplets falling on her face, though it seemed as though they sizzled like dropping water onto a heated pot.
She could not tell left from right. She could not pry her eyes open, so she gave in and slept.
When Mio would not wake, they took a detour to a small village on the opposite direction of their destination. There was a single inn—a dingy traditional structure in the middle of nowhere that did not get many visitors, a fact one could determine by the look of astonishment on the middle-aged woman tending to the front desk. Taiga took charge of renting a room and they were given the largest, and presumably, cleanest one in an auxiliary building that came with its own bath. After showing them the way and offering to send up a servant to take their orders for a meal, which Taiga refused as he gave her a simple food order to remember, the owner set out to fetch the village doctor.
Taiga unfurled Mio's map over the surface of the square table and scanned her markings upon its surface with a critical eye. He had looked over it many times before and admitted Mio had done an exemplary job with marking everything of importance, claimed it had made it easier for him to look around. "It would be best if you went on ahead to find Saori," he said, and when Madara nodded in agreement, he drew a clear path for Madara to follow on the map. "If you take this route, it'll be easy for you to reach their village. Use your name to get you through their security if necessary. If all guardians retained their memories in this place, she should have also. Bring her back. We must move quickly to reach Takuto. He's the only one able to make a remedy for this illness, right?"
"Any Kuronuma medic should be able to make what she needs," Madara answered.
"Finding a Kuronuma medic that will do us this favor will be difficult. It's best to stick with the one that'll remember us," he said. "A shame all our medics are compromised. And just when Takuto worked a miracle with Yayoi."
Madara gathered a few items to take with him to reach the Ito clan's hidden community. Mio would be left in Taiga's care, and though, he learned not to trust the man, he had no choice. He understood that under their current circumstances, it would be easier for him to reach Saori without a hitch and for Taiga to take Mio elsewhere if any of the hunter clans tracked them to this backwater inn.
Taiga stepped into the adjacent room as the servants delivered their food.
Madara tried to wake Mio before going, but she offered no response. Her heartbeat was strong, though her skin was burning and her breaths were shortening. He set a damp cloth on her forehead and stood as Taiga reentered the room.
He did not dare say anything that might speak true of the assumptions running through Taiga's head and walked past the older shinobi with his shoulders squared and the promise that he would return quickly so as to not delay what remained of their journey.
"I won't hurt her," Taiga said, speaking the words like an oath. "If that is what you fear."
Madara came to an abrupt halt and looked over his shoulder at Taiga's back.
Taiga turned with a teasing smile. "Don't trust me?"
"I doubt you trust yourself."
At that, he laughed, but there was no expected comeback.
Madara left, needing to assure himself that Taiga's would keep his word and not hurt Mio.
He traveled towards the Ito village moving swiftly through treetops. He followed the trail Taiga had shown him on the map and found it easy to lose himself in its twists and turns. He spent enough time with the Ito clan to spot their snares and avoid them, but he did notice a few changes the deeper he trekked.
He came to an abrupt stop when a wave of heat hit him and drew his attention skyward to the billowing smoke. He spotted flames engulfing a cluster of trees and the fire was spreading quickly, latching onto everything in its surroundings. The end of the trail ended there.
The Ito village was in the center of that fire, and at the thought, Madara jumped from his perch, prepared to rush headlong into the flames. His first move to do so was met with a surprise attack that hit him like a ton of stone and sent him crashing into a tree in the opposite direction.
He recovered quickly, righting himself before he hit the ground and landed on his feet. He lifted his face and saw that he was surrounded by members wearing the symbol of the hunter clan that had been chasing them since they had entered the Waterfall Country.
Madara prepared to fight by activating his Sharingan. He did not think the Ito clan so incompetent they would fall prey to this type of attack. He would find them as soon as he dealt with these shinobi.
The nightmares returned in short strains of vivid color, they unfurled and smoothed like a map of terrors she kept close to her heart. In the violent retellings, she found herself cowering and powerless because the fear was strong and it was paralyzing. It owned a piece of her that she would never have back and that little bit was enough to hold power over her. She would go back every night to the slaughter of her parents, to the vicious carving of her back, and to the violence she faced in the Sun Country. There would be moments when she felt the weight of her parent's murderer upon her body and be reminded of the way her heart seized each night. The suffocating burden that was her duty and her want to relinquish her hope to see an end to the nightmare.
…And then…she would feel the blood upon her face, her voice wrung out of her in shock, as her eyes settled upon the wound through her grandfather's chest.
She woke. Startled. Her heart thumping wildly in a way that made her chest feel too small to contain it. And she searched, finding ceiling, floors, and bedding. She did not recognize her surroundings and wondered if the nightmare meant to continue.
Her throbbing head met with some relief when a damp, folded cloth was set atop her forehead. She lifted her eyes, stealing a glance at Taiga's profile.
Parting dry lips, she called hoarsely, "Water."
His fingers slid under her chin, tilting her face to an angle to press the water jug to her lips. She tasted the cool liquid, felt it spill from the corners of her mouth, and when it came too quickly, she coughed. He drew the drink from her and slipped his hand behind her neck, pulling her up slight to offer her water again. Things went smoothly that time and she was returned to the comfort of the futon.
Mio touched the side of her face with the back of her hand. Her skin was hotter than normal, but not as bad as before. However, she was aware that if she attempted to travel in her condition that she would collapse. The symptoms were tricky, coming and going, always hesitant on whether it was the right time to settle. She suspected they might leave her after another day or two of rest, but there was a possibility things could get worse. She was only made aware how problematic this condition was to become if she had no access to her medicine.
"Where are we?" she asked wearily, looking to Taiga and wondering where she might find Madara.
Taiga placed his meat skewer in his mouth and pulled up a map, pointing to a remote area far from the Ito village. She took the map from him and brought it closer, fascinated by the new markings he had made since she last laid eyes on it.
"Hungry?" asked Taiga, offering her a meat skewer.
She took it and bit into the beef.
"I sent Madara to fetch Saori," he informed her. "He should be arriving to the village as we speak."
"Oh."
"Oh?"
He was fishing.
"What?" asked Mio.
"Is that all you have to say?"
She was not biting. "About what?"
However, he did not give in easily. "About him?"
"What about him?" she questioned, sounding perplexed.
"You have no intention of accusing me of purposely sending him off alone?"
"No," she replied, "because I know you did it. I trust there was a reason behind your decision."
"He had his reservations about leaving you in my care," he said, changing the direction of their conversation. Fishing, again. There was a playful smile on his lips as he stared down at her, expecting more of a reaction than she was willing to give. "It reminded me of something interesting Ayuka once said to me."
"Ayuka says plenty," she said calmly, biting into another piece of meat. She chewed slowly to busy herself as she awaited his response.
"She told me a bit about your involvement with Madara and Izuna and how deep your connections to them ran, pathway-wise."
She did not like where this was going. "Whatever she told you is questionable—"
"Something in particular stood out," he continued, ignoring her tangent. "Something about Madara."
"She has not been able to read the Fate Sphere since Yayoi started to gain control of it," she went on, refusing to acknowledge his words. "What she sees are lies."
"And your converging futures."
"She is also blind to my pathways and those of my guardians. She is not a reliable source of information."
Their voices were overlapping.
"Is that what you tell yourself?" asked Taiga. "He will—"
"Stop!" she said loudly, the sudden outburst sent her into a heap of coughs. She took the blanket to her mouth to muffle the sound.
"It seems I have no need of saying it aloud for you to know what I mean," Taiga said peacefully. "You probably have not considered the consequences of these actions, have you?"
Mio struggled to sit. She batted his hands away when he tried to help her and managed to get it done on her own. She took a few erratic breaths before speaking. "No," she admitted gravely. "I have not because he is my future. Whatever that comes to mean is not important now."
"And if there is a choice?"
"I have already made my choice."
Mio lowered her eyes to her covered lap and chased the thoughts from her mind. There was no place for her future doubts in her current situation. She needed to think of reuniting with her scattered guardians and releasing those that were captured before it was too late to save them. She took a deep breath and finally looked at Taiga.
"Tell no one what Ayuka said," she said firmly. "We have to remain focused."
Taiga shrugged.
A strained silence stretched between them. Neither one of them made an attempt to diffuse it. They allowed it to perforate the room and spill between the cracks.
"I heard of your grandfather," he said, and the memory stabbed her through the heart. "You have my condolences."
Mio inclined her head, accepting his words for their sincerity.
"He believed you could handle things on your own after he was gone," Taiga continued, "that there would be no force capable of moving you from deciding what became of your future and the artifacts. But you have your work cut out for you if your answer to everything is giving into the enemy. You gain nothing being a sacrifice."
She understood that. Logically, she did. It was stupid. All of it had been, but it kept everyone safe. It worked for them, but not for her and she did not consider being selfish.
"He is still expecting you to do great things, so you should think about what you are planning to do when you come face to face with Nishiki and Ayuka. Do you plan to kill them both?"
She swallowed hard, nervous. She had not planned that far ahead.
"I can help you, Mio."
She nodded because she could think of nothing to say. She turned to face the open window and stared out to into a withered garden. There was a new chill settling in her bones. "I am afraid I cannot meet everyone's expectations," she said quietly. "They say I am to be the fiercest Shugosha to ever live. I am to be feared. I am to do wonders with the artifacts. I am to bear a son that will inherit all of my gifts and more. I am supposed to lead the Kuronuma clan to peace and continue to keep the spheres safe."
"And?"
"And I am afraid to be any of those things."
"Do you not think that it is normal to be afraid of those expectations?"
And she looked to him, hoping he meant to help her when she said, "I can't afford to be afraid."
"Everyone can afford to be a little afraid," he told her, then reached for a bowl of rice and offered it to her.
She took the bowl and the chopsticks he handed to her shortly after. She stared down at the rice.
"It's fortunate that you don't need to worry about meeting any of those expectations any time soon," Taiga said. "You don't need to be the strongest or the most feared. There's nothing left for you to do with the artifacts when you made them useless. You don't need to think about your future or whether you are going to bear Madara sons."
Mio breathed deeply to keep her chest from tightening.
"You need to take the lead, Mio, and become Shugosha again," he advised. "Once we scoop up Saori, Hashirama, and Nako, you need to have a plan ready to infiltrate the Earth Country. This plan needs to involve everyone. As much as you want to protect your guardians, it's their job to protect you. So let them do what they were meant to do in this amazing new plan you are about to think up."
"So will you help me with this plan?" she asked hesitantly.
"Yes," he replied with a nod.
"Why are you being so…helpful?"
"Your grandfather once told me that I would have to choose a side eventually," he divulged. "Something tells me he knew Madara would be stupid enough to give me an artifact and that I'd be more involved in this mess than I wanted to be."
There was no doubt in her mind that her grandfather knew all of those things and more. Perhaps, he had seen all of her fears and this world and had seen an end to them all because she remembered all of the things he said. He never once doubted her.
And maybe there was a reason he failed to warn her that Taiga would be a guardian.
She nodded, knowing that she made the right choice in trusting him. "So have you chosen a side?"
"I chose yours. You should take it as a high compliment seeing as I am here not plotting to betray you."
Mio set the bowl of rice on the floor. "You have to help Madara."
"Madara can handle himself," he said, smiling. "If everything has gone over well, he should be on his way back with Saori."
"Oh? Then why are you smiling?"
"Because I doubt anything went over smoothly."
Madara suspected he was the bait halfway through his battles against these shinobi. They were tracking him specifically and making demands about Mio's whereabouts. They were under the impression he had taken it upon himself to lead them astray while Taiga went off with Mio to a secret location and persisted in their attempts to wring the information out of him. Though the Waterfall Country's hunter clan was proving difficult as he suspected others would be. They were relentless. No matter how many he defeated, more would appear to challenge him and he knew they intended to exhaust him.
He saw it working, but exhaustion rarely deterred him from battle. If one gave into the weight of it, they lost the fight and he wasn't interested in losing this one or any other.
One shinobi produced a cutting gale that swept the flames across treetop, setting them ablaze. He countered with a fire technique that overpowered it, but his attack was cut short when a blast of mud water caught him off guard. He landed over charred ground, surrounded by the heat of the fire engulfing what used to be the Ito clan's hidden village.
Madara blocked an attack from another shinobi before he had a chance to breath and had gone after another, disarming him and hurling him into one of his comrades. He saw more of them coming towards him and prepared his next attack by bringing his hands together to form the necessary seals for a technique meant to repel them when a flash of steel caught his eye followed by a strange silence.
Almost noiselessly, several of his enemies fell to the ground with wounds tearing across their chests and shoulders. Those that remained looked around, but a quick move was enough for them to cut themselves on the fine string webbed around them.
The Ito clan and…
Someone dropped in beside him as the last shinobi were panicked and when he turned, he was surprised to find his brother. Izuna faced forward, his sword drawn, and pointed in the direction of what remained of the hunter clan. These were the last of them.
Madara dropped his hands and drew a kunai instead.
Together, he and Izuna finished them off with ease.
Once it was over, Madara looked at his brother knowing he was not a guardian and that he did not know this world wasn't theirs. "You have been missing for some time," he said, starting from what he remembered had been the last reports concerning his brother. "I was starting to think something had gone wrong."
"It did go wrong," Izuna replied with a grim expression. He saw the bandages on his hands and around his head. "I was attacked by one of these hunter clans. They're looking everywhere for you and Taiga and that witch Mio from the Kuronuma clan."
Izuna definitely had no idea this was a different world. None. He never would have forgiven himself for calling Mio a witch. Under no circumstance would he insult Mio, not even after he had confronted him about what Mio had said. Izuna had accused him of seducing her, shouted it at him after he had reminded him of how much he had hated her.
"What did you take from the Emperor?" Izuna demanded. "What have you done?"
Madara walked to a web of the near-invisible string. He reached to touch it and felt it rip through his glove. He pulled away to stared down at his thumb and forefinger, seeing a thin tear in both and a bead of blood appear on his index finger. He needed a reason to bring up Saori. "This is the Ito clan's attack," he said, serious, looking to his brother. "Are they the hunter clan that attacked you? Did you copy this technique?"
"The Ito aren't a hunter clan. They captured me after I was left for dead," his brother divulged. "One of their shinobi, a woman, called Saori made sure I was nursed back to health. She made sure her clan did nothing against me and they listened." He paused, looking about the area. "They're after her too, like you. This hunter clan's the only one that succeeded in finding her village…and in seeing it destroyed."
"The Ito clan is here with you?" asked Madara.
A rustling sound drew his attention to the portion of the forest that was white with the ashes. Saori emerged, staring to him wide eyed, her face smudged with soot and her clothes singed. She approached him hesitantly, shooting a look in Izuna's direction.
"It's fine," Izuna said. "This is my brother, Madara. He won't hurt you. I've told him about how you saved me." His brother looked at him. "This is Saori."
Saori was the only guardian without another nearby to confirm whether or not she was the only one with memories of the event that brought them to this strange world. He had been fortunate to have been planning an attack on the Kuronuma and that she had been thoughtless enough to wander about unguarded. They had been lucky, but Saori had not.
Madara left his brother's side, walking up to Saori. "Mio told me she made you a guardian," he said lowly, soft enough for her to hear and nobody else. Her expression changed into one of hopeful recognition. "Only guardians weren't affected by the Universe Sphere's activation."
"Everything is strange," Saori said quietly. "It looks the same, but it is so different. There's an Emperor and hunter clans and they're after us because they think we've taken his artifacts. What is happening?"
"There's no time. We must hurry before Mio weakens more," he replied. "Find a reason to leave; I will have Izuna return to our village."
"Is Mio ill?"
"Yes, and we don't have time to waste now. There will be more hunter clans after us." He reached for the map that helped bring him to this place, knowing Taiga had marked the location of the inn. "There's an inn indicated in this map, one in a small area opposite of your forest. Meet us there."
Madara left her side to rejoin his brother, who looked at him strangely.
"Have you met?" Izuna asked.
"I was only expressing my gratitude," he said. "Izuna, you must return to the compound. The clan needs a leader while I am absent."
"And where do you suppose you're going without me?" Izuna demanded. "You already sent me on a mission nowhere when we were supposed to be invading the Kuronuma clan's territory. We have to go back, they captured our men."
Madara made use of the opportunity to explain the treaty he formed with the Shugosha, but that did not blow over well. Not even when he assured him that they had returned all the men they had been keeping prisoner.
"Did that witch sink her claws into you? You should be more careful!" Izuna berated. "She has made peace with other clans only to tear them apart from the inside! You are endangering the clan by agreeing to this treaty!"
"I will explain my reasons to you when I return, but you needn't worry about the Kuronuma clan, they are our allies now and for good reason." Madara turned his brother around and gave him a push. "Take care of your duties. I will return as soon as I settle my matters."
Izuna frowned, but he did not put up a fight. He went silently.
Madara would have preferred to have his brother by his side, but he was not a guardian and there was no time to explain everything to him in a way he would understand. He wanted to protect his brother and keep him far from the battlefield this time around, though he had provided great support when he had fought against Nishiki.
He waited a few minutes before returning to the inn. He found Mio standing and when she saw him, she seemed to have expelled the breath she had been holding and though it looked like she would go to wrap her arms around him, she didn't. She approached him slowly, her cheeks red with the fever.
Taiga was seated by the table reading his map, acting completely oblivious to his presence.
"Should you be standing?" Madara asked her quietly.
"I feel better," she replied, scanning him for wounds. He had a few cuts and bruises apart from being covered in ash. "Hunter clan?"
He nodded. "But I found Saori…and Izuna." He saw she tensed at the mention of his brother. "I sent him back to the Fire Country. Saori should be coming to meet us soon."
"Good," Taiga interjected, standing. "We need to move. We've been here too long. We need to cover our tracks, so I'll be dealing with the inn staff."
He purposely walked between them to exit the room, smiling at him as he went.
Mio pulled a sweater on and started to gather her things.
"Are you good to travel?" Madara asked, taking the strap of one of her bags.
"Yes," she replied, swiping the bag from him. She pulled it over her head and set it across her torso. "For a while at least."
Madara helped her gather the rest of her things and walked out with her. The two stood side by side at the entrance, quietly staring out into the empty road. He found himself thinking about her current state and wondering whether she should be allowed to travel. She should be resting.
Things should have never escalated this far. He and Izuna should have been able to defeat Nishiki if they had been given the time to do so, but they failed. In that moment, they had to choose between going or continue fighting until the sphere took effect. He and Izuna chose to go when he sensed several pulses weakening because Mio was one of them. And he would have gone the instant he felt the change…but Nishiki had attacked him head-on as if he had seen that Madara was contemplating turning back.
"I think I see her," Mio said.
Madara looked in the direction Mio was facing and spotted Saori running towards the inn. The Ito girl went straight for Mio, which surprised him, and her arms wrapped around her neck. She held her and looked at her with relief.
"You look fine," Saori said, "better than I remember. I was worried that you might not be—"
The quiet that surrounded them was disturbed by a thunderous sound followed by a rain of wood and a scatter of leaves. The three of them swiveled around to the sight of the inn's staff running out into the streets when another explosion hit the establishment, obliterating its entire eastern building.
Taiga came running out the front entrance and he went straight for Mio, shouting. "No time to cover our tracks. We have to lose them!" He gathered Mio and threw her over his shoulder, jumping into the nearest tree and losing himself after his next leap. Not long had he gone that Madara and Saori bore witness to several shinobi in red masks go after them.
It was Mio they wanted.
Madara and Saori followed after them.
"We need to throw them off our trail," Madara shouted.
"Leave that to me!" Saori responded, bringing her hands together as she fell back to do as she said.
Madara looked over his shoulder to see her standing with three of her clones that then used a transformation technique to look like him, Taiga, and Mio. He saw her leave and her clones go in different directions.
He navigated the jungle to stay out of her way, tracking her as best he could and masking his own presence. Saori could find them easily, even if she wandered off a great distance. She was good at sensing others, though it was not her specialty.
Madara caught up to Taiga and Mio after what had felt like hours of travel. They were sitting at the bottom of an embankment where the trees twisted and grew at an angle, providing them with the sufficient amount of coverage to stay unseen. Mio was covered in scratches, but Taiga suffered a wound to the stomach. He appeared pale and sluggish as he washed the blood from the injury with a jug of water and a piece of ripped fabric from the bottom of his shirt.
"Where is Saori?" Mio shouted.
"She created a diversion for us to get away," Madara responded. "She'll catch up to us soon enough!"
Soon as he finished speaking, Saori dropped down to join them, out of breath and a little battered. He had not sensed her so close, but imagined that was the point in her hiding herself from anyone that could.
"I outran them," she said with a laugh. "I did it." Then she caught sight of Taiga's bleeding stomach. "Oh, you're hurt. Let me have a look at that."
Mio slid out of the way to allow Saori to get through. She stared at the wound before speaking a second time, "I can help you with this." She pressed her glowing hands to his abdomen and saw it healed within seconds. "There you are."
Everyone looked at her flabbergasted. She beamed at them.
"You know medical ninjutsu?" asked Madara.
"How did you forget to mention this?" questioned Taiga.
"I have basic knowledge," Saori answered. "Extremely basic. I wanted to be a medical specialist like my mother as a child, so I started basic training, but I eventually grew bored and tried my hand at a few other things before deciding against them all."
"We could use a medic," Madara said, looking to Taiga who stared back at him. In silent agreement, the two returned their eyes to Saori. "Can you do something about Mio?"
Saori glanced at Mio. "What's wrong?"
"They are exaggerating because I feel fine," Mio admonished.
"Exaggerating? We took turns carrying you across the Waterfall Country because you were unresponsive!" Taiga revealed.
"Well, now that you mention it, you did feel warmer than normal."
"That's normal," Madara answered, receiving strange looks. "She is always that warm." He caught on to their meaning as soon as Taiga grinned at him. "It's a Kuronuma thing."
"Yes, I believe Takuto was also incredible warm," Saori said. "It was like the heat radiated off his skin. The Kuronuma would be a wonder to have around during the colder seasons."
"It is extremely uncomfortable during the summer," Mio grumbled. "And I did have something of a fever."
"She was so hot I though her blood would boil out of her skin," Taiga corrected. "That was not something of a fever."
Saori moved to her and excused herself as she reached to touch her forehead. "If this is your normal temperature, you should be fine. Do you have any other symptoms?"
"Dizziness, nausea—"
"But dizziness and nausea is normal in your condition," Saori said, smiling as she lowered her eyes to Mio's stomach. "News travels fast. I almost didn't believe it, but it makes sense." And as she brought attention to her nonexistent condition, Mio made that face she did in uncomfortable situations—the little crease between her eyebrows was present and her eyes were narrowed in a way that highlighted her discomfort. "You must be exhausted. It's completely natural, but don't worry, I'll take care of you."
The awkwardness melted away from her expression. Mio nodded with a small smile and thanked her in her quietest voice.
Saori turned her back to Mio. "Climb on, Mio, we have a long way to go."
"I can take her," Madara offered.
"It would probably be best if you were free," Mio said, reaching to wrap her arms around Saori's neck. "If we get attacked again, you should be free to take care of it."
She would not take no for an answer and something told him that Saori wouldn't either.
"We should get going," Taiga decided, starting down a narrow path along the river at the bottom of the embankment. "If we continue straight, we should have no trouble with any other shinobi."
"We won't be, they're still chasing after one of my clones," Saori revealed, following Taiga's lead after hoisting Mio onto her back. "I don't think they know it's a fake."
Madara looked back to the giant trees with their twisting limbs and lifted his eyes further up where the sky was filled with a red cloud, the color of death. Everyone noticed it, but there was no telling if that meant they were too late for one of their own.
xl: I promise you there will be a preview within the next 24 hours. I was eager to write up this scene between Saori and Mio to serve as the preview (you know before it loses its magic), but it's 6AM, so I'm going to bed (since I already forgot parts of the conversation while editing this chapter, but I'll improvise, it'll be as good as I first imagined it). So, the preview is forthcoming.
On that note, this chapter was delayed by such things as: the heat (it is hella muggy and gross here), my marathoning In the Flesh (and dying with my feels), family visits, YouTube videos, my cold throwing me off my game, and possibly some "end-of-the-story" jitters.
I'm actually starting to think I should have waited to finish the next chapter and do a double post because they go better together, but considering this took forever to finish, I wanted to post it and try to get the next chapter done as quickly as I can (because Hashirama needs to have screen time and he's going to be hilariously depressed for a great portion of the next chapter...for obvious reasons. You know, Mito hates him and all. Nako won't be making any of this any better). Does that count as a spoiler? Oh, I wish we had a strike option, because I would strike it all out!
Taiga and Mio are going to great things together. Seriously.
By the way, there's a couple short scenes I wrote with Taiga in my journal where that bit about choosing a side originates. If you're interested in reading those (if you haven't already), I'll link them at my LJ.
THANK YOU TO THESE LOVELY READERS: Loteva, HushedFable, Kettobase, crazyuser, and Ninjagirl2211 for reviewing!
PS. - I have been organizing events into chapters since there is only so much left to happen. I don't think I can stretch things out at this point, but I'm not sure how many chapters are actually left for Redesign. I want to say 4, but it might actually be 3. I think for the finale, it'll be two chapters. I might do a short epilogue-like chapter, though (but only if this means I get to end in an even number).
So, we have The Raging Storm as 54, The Journey's End as 55, and maybe two others (or just one). If it's two it'll be an odd number, OMG and a 7 at that! NOOO. SO the safest bet? 58 will be the last chapter. Prepare your hearts. If anyone has been reading Winter, you know shit's going to go down. And once I get that preview up, you will see the emotional starts next chapter.
I need to sleep.
Thank you for reading!
Edit: I keep forgetting to mention that extra I wrote on the 10 Artifacts. There's a link on my profile that will take you to the entry at my LJ if you haven't seen it yet. I enjoyed writing the origin story for each one because Kiyohime was a riot.
