Chapter Fifty-One
Yukio stood in the trees on the outskirts of the city, the nagging sensation in the back of his head was growing more powerful and he knew that soon the emperor would just yank him back to his real body.
But . . . he wanted just a few more moments, and he hoped whatever mind reading lackey Orochimaru had monitoring him-since by now it was a given that Orochimaru would want to know what was going through his head-would understand.
He didn't fully understand why, but he wanted to watch the sunrise.
It felt like something he hadn't seen for a while; both Yukio and the body he was in. He didn't know why he felt that way, but he did.
He couldn't secure the body; the host would be free once Yukio left him. He might be bewildered, but he'd be free.
And Yukio was okay with that . . .
He didn't know the man, didn't know his name or even where he came from originally; didn't know if he was loyal to Orochimaru or a prisoner.
Yukio didn't know if he-the host-would see the sunrise too, and to be honest he didn't fully care, he was watching the sunrise for himself, the host was getting freedom out of this, he could watch the sun rise whenever he wanted.
Ryu . . . Yukio thought about his now departed friend almost at random. He thought about Kyoko . . . she had a cursed mark now . . . he didn't want to know that, for some reason he didn't want Orochimaru to know that . . . he didn't want Orochimaru to get Kyoko, didn't want her to die like . . .
He'd been their leader, even when the other two rose to the Chuunin rank before him he'd always seen himself as the squad leader . . . he'd been jealous of them, he'd resented them . . . so he joined the enemy hoping to be more powerful.
And he was . . .
He was very powerful now . . . but not powerful enough to convert Kyoko, not powerful enough to keep Ryu from dying.
He'd let Ryu die . . . there had to have been something he could have done, but he'd just stood there like an idiot.
And Kyoko . . . Temari-sensei . . . he'd left them to live . . . he'd be reprimanded for it . . . but he couldn't bear to hurt them, even though . . . Kyoko . . .
He closed his eyes for a moment and told himself to forget it. Ryu had died in the field; he'd died the death of a Shinobi.
His killer was of no importance. He might as well have not even seen Kyoko out there; he just needed to forget her before he betrayed her . . .
He watched the horizon as the sun began to peak over the tree line, his wish finally being fulfilled. It began with a general brightening of the area, and then slowly but surely, the orange disk began to rise into the sky.
Because of the smoke from the burning ships the night before and the parts of the city that had been burned by the imperial forces-and at least in some cases, Yukio was pretty sure the invading ninja themselves-the sun seemed almost like an dark orange, almost red ball floating up in the smog.
It was bright, but through the cloud of smog, Yukio could look right at it without hurting his eyes. It was a strange sight, not what he'd expected but still welcome.
Yukio smiled, and finally he gave in to the nagging call of Orochimaru.
He opened his eyes again, telling himself he'd hold onto that memory and treasure it. Good or bad, it was something new and special.
But of course, once he sat up in the channeling chamber he couldn't remember what he'd worked so hard to remember . . . he didn't remember what happened to Ryu, had Ryu even been in Waves?
No, Ryu was probably still in the capital city, he'd see him later.
But something was bugging him, something in the back of his mind . . .
Kyoko . . . Kyoko had a . . .
"No!" He said aloud, to the surprise of several medics who'd been attending him.
He shoved them aside, someone said, "Don't disturb him; he must be going to report to the Emperor."
But Yukio did no such thing.
He headed straight for his quarters and he collapsed on his bed.
He closed his eyes, and he told himself to go to sleep, even though his body had just spent the past several hours in a sleeplike state.
He didn't need sleep, but he was still weary. He wanted sleep and he wanted to forget.
Forget anything that could harm the friends he had left.
The Legendary Laze of Konoha found a comfortable enough spot on the grass and willingly collapsed onto his back to stare up at the sky.
There weren't any clouds, just a big gray smog and an angry red sun glaring down on the children of men; disapproving of the blood they'd spilled.
And Shikamaru hoped it knew it could go shove its head in a bucket.
Yet more blood was going to have to be spilt to win the war. The blood of good and wicked men on both sides of this massive conflict.
He was making himself both available and unavailable; he hadn't told anyone where he'd be, but he wasn't exactly hiding.
It was a strange feeling, wanting to be alone and knowing he shouldn't be.
He wondered if Temari would let him retire as a recluse when the war was over. They could set up a nice little cottage in the woods, make medicines and sell them to any poor slob who wandered into their woods and got injured.
Then of course their kids would never see Chouji's kids again, so they'd be lonely. Shikamaru wouldn't see any of his friends anymore . . .
So maybe being a recluse wasn't as good as it seemed at first.
Maybe when the kids were old enough to move out and live on their own. Then Shikamaru and Temari could live the secluded life in the woods.
And if we have this third kid we'd be old by the time he's moved out so we'll have the added bonus of being the crazy old people living in the woods. Shikamaru reasoned to himself.
Almost as if she sensed him thinking of her Temari walked boldly into view.
To look at her one would never guess she'd been up for over twenty-four hours and spending most of that time fighting, she looked ready to face a thousand samurai if necessary.
"Hiding?" She asked.
"I'm in the open." He said with a shrug.
"Have you given any thought to the situation with Sumiko?" She asked.
"Of all the things you could ask me, you pick the most troublesome topic."
"Planning a war is less troublesome than figuring out what to do with your daughter?" Temari scoffed.
Shikamaru watched the red sun climb through the gray sky and shrugged, "Sumiko-chan is with Emiko now, we'll ask her what she guesses is the best way to go about sending our daughter home. The army needs to move out soon, not enough time for us to send a messenger bird, let alone our daughter back to the island."
Temari sat on the grass with him and said, "You've already decided, but you're waiting to see if Emiko confirms it, aren't you?"
"Something like that." Shikamaru grunted. "She's my daughter, her safety means too much and I can't plan with "acceptable risks" because no risk seems acceptable to me."
Temari was quiet for a moment, and Shikamaru decided to seize the conversation, "Temari, what about you? Are you doing okay?"
"What? What do you mean?" Temari asked, and then laughed, "You're not thinking of sending me back with her, are you? I need to be here, I need to be fighting this war, remember?"
"I remember." Shikamaru nodded, "I'm not sending you back, I'm just asking . . . are you okay?"
Temari smiled weakly, "Would you be? Of course I'm not great . . . but I can manage, I can fight . . . Kyoko can too, she's really shaken up but at least she's stopped crying."
Shikamaru shook his head slowly, "She's probably going to need some time to herself, but she shouldn't be alone either. It's sad really, we're trained from our childhood to kill . . . kill the enemies of our village, the enemies of our country . . . but killing someone you've known half your life, someone you grew up with-"
"It's not just that, Shikamaru. Yukio and Ryu betrayed Suna, they betrayed us, on paper she did the right thing, on paper Ryu got what he . . ." Temari's voice faltered and she whispered, "But we're not paper dolls, it's complicated. I don't know how I feel about it yet."
Shikamaru sat up and said "I guess I'd never really understand . . . but I'm here you know, if you want to just voice anything."
Temari smiled weakly and shook her head, "Nice try, changing the subject."
"I wasn't." Shikamaru said softly, "I'm sort of thinking . . . that maybe Kyoko should go back home."
"She will." Temari said firmly, "When we take Sunagakure back. You're not sending her back to the island, Shikamaru, not even to protect Sumiko. She's not unstable, she'll get through this and be even more determined to end the war, you'll see."
Shikamaru nodded, and said, "Well . . . the ships should be unloading by now. I think we'd better go get Sumiko-chan."
Temari laughed bitterly, "What an experience for her, the first real city she's seen since she was a toddler and it's just been beaten down and lit on fire. Who did that anyway? I thought we were only going to burn the ships."
"From what I've heard it was mostly accidental, with a few fires deliberately set in the serpent shrines. Nothing much spread from the fires we lit on the wall or in the harbor but in a couple places where the fighting was really heavy, or where the wind carried it from the shrines it spread to other parts of the city."
"This won't look good." Temari commented, "We show up and start fires all over. Gaara told me that none of the Suna ninja have confessed to lighting fires in the shrines, a few said that the shrines went up on their own."
"Probably fires set from the inside, I haven't heard of us capturing a single intact shrine; Orochimaru probably ordered everything cleaned up." Shikamaru said.
Temari nodded slowly, "How do you think the populace will deal with us?"
"It's still early morning, the Daimyo hasn't announced anything yet," Shikamaru said, "But Naruto says they probably won't resist us. They may not like us, but they won't try to stop us from doing what we need to do and moving on."
The two got up and began to head for the dock when the Hokage himself caught up to them.
"Hey you two," Naruto said, "I was wondering about something."
"We're going to the docks, wonder while we walk." Shikamaru said.
"Why are you guys going to the docks? Sakura-chan told me the generals will come to us for the war council . . . am I supposed to be down there too?"
Shikamaru couldn't help but smile; he'd missed his old friend.
"Shikamaru didn't mention did he?" Temari scoffed, "When he was packing his things for the war, he accidentally packed our daughter."
"You what?" Naruto gawked.
"She's exaggerating; I'd never shove Sumiko in a bag." Shikamaru said lightly, "I'm sure she walked onto the ship with her own two legs."
"Ah so you made her carry your bags; thanks for clearing that up." Temari rolled her eyes, "You see the husband I have to deal with?"
"But wait, Sumiko is on the ship?" Naruto sounded confused.
"Yeah, we're going to go get her." Shikamaru said.
"You brought your daughter with you?" Naruto seemed absolutely perplexed.
"We'll explain on the way; you said you wondering about something?" Shikamaru asked as the three of them headed for the docks.
It wasn't long of course before a trio of Jounin fell in with them, the Hokage wasn't leaving the secured capital building without an escort it seemed, and Konohamaru seemed to have taken it upon himself-and a pair of Hyuga-to provide it.
Hinata had probably had something to do with it too. Shikamaru wondered briefly where she was, but paid attention as Naruto explained the situation with Hara.
He explained Sakura's concerns and his decision to send Hara with Hitomi and Sasuke.
Shikamaru listened and privately made a mental note to talk to Hitomi before she had a chance to leave, they'd dealt well with each other so far, and he'd have to hope she was willing to trust him again.
"So what do you think, Shikamaru? Am I being blinded by my bond with my student, or is Sakura right? That he might be sent to kill me."
Shikamaru frowned and said "I think Orochimaru knows you better than we expected."
"What do you mean?"
"Well Hara is the only one of the berserker test subjects that we captured to mention another person, Hitomi is the only thing he remembers. He didn't remember you without help you said."
"Uh-huh . . ." Naruto frowned.
"Well, were he and Hitomi intimate, do you know?" Temari asked, "Didn't he favor the other girl in your squad?"
"Yeah, Miyuki. I always figured they'd get together sooner or-"
"Not the point," Temari interrupted, "Hokage-sama, he only remembered Hitomi. She was his teammate, sure but so were you. If he were going to have feelings intense enough to break through whatever brain washing they put him and everyone else under it just seems odd that Hitomi would be the only one he remembers."
"But not remotely unexpected when one considers that Hitomi fought and defeated Shiroi a few weeks ago, exposing herself and her affiliation with Sasuke." Shikamaru smirked. He loved having a wife that could keep up with him intellectually, Temari had realized just as he had that Hara's memory was suspicious, but she lacked that bit of information that Shikamaru had gotten from his talk with Hitomi.
"So what are you saying?" Naruto asked, "Orochimaru wants Hara to attack Sasuke?"
Shikamaru shrugged, "It's probably that. But I think it's more a matter of knowing he has someone near Sasuke, or at least someone near someone else near Sasuke. If the lack of memories is the result of some sort of Jutsu Ino should be able to root it out, if she hasn't or she can't it may be mental conditioning, or even some sort of narcotic. That Hara resisted any of those things to remember someone he happens to know who also happens to be close to Sasuke . . . well it seems suspicious."
"So what do we do?"
Shikamaru shook his head, "Odds are Orochimaru knows me too, he knows I'd figure that out-if it's true-and expects me to tell you to keep Hara from Sasuke, which puts a dangerous potential assassin near you instead. Either way he wins, he knows we can't just leave Hara locked up because we're not going to be staying anywhere long enough for that, and with no ninja going back on the boats we can't risk a Jounin prisoner going into our home island, or to Kirigakure where he could do some real damage."
"This can't be lose-lose-lose, what do you suggest?" Naruto asked.
"I suggest doing the thing that has the greatest chance of benefiting Orochimaru and therefore the thing he's least likely to think I'd tell you to do; send Hara with Sasuke. You made the right decision for the right reasons, Naruto and I'll tell Sakura that. You just need to know that while you had the right conclusion, the risks are probably greater than you expected."
Naruto nodded slowly, and Temari said "If it makes you feel any better we left Sumiko with Hirate Emiko, she can always hazard a guess for you."
Naruto laughed, "I'll have faith in my own decision, and in Shikamaru's logic even if I don't understand all of it. Besides, Sasuke is going to need some Konoha ninja with him to remind him that even if he's traveling with Mist he doesn't need to stay with them forever."
"I'm not so sure he'll see it that way." Shikamaru commented. He was pretty sure Sasuke would already have begun to see the potential of staying with Kirigakure.
Kurai stood quietly in the doorway to his quarters watching his wife play with their son. She seemed calm, happy even just watching him build some sort of tower and handing him blocks.
After almost four years of having a son Kurai had gotten used to the whole "fatherhood" thing. It'd been tricky at first, but eventually he and Shiroi had found a way to work it out; raising a child in the fortress of their once enemy now master.
But for all the heat of their teens he and Shiroi's feelings had cooled significantly since the fall of Konoha, since she became so totally devoted to Orochimaru's cause.
Kurai, in his moments of clarity, sometimes wondered if he was in love with Shiroi. He knew he loved her, but was he in love with her?
Sometimes he wondered, or at least remembered that sometimes he wondered-usually he was in something of a stupor.
But he knew he loved his son, and when Shiroi was with Saizo she seemed like the girl he'd fallen in love with, instead of the woman he was halfway between afraid and ashamed of.
If she could just be like that all the time . . .
Maybe he was the problem, maybe she'd always been the way she was and he'd just let his hormones get the best of him in those teenage years; Kurai wasn't sure. It was hard to be certain of things anymore.
If there was one thing he did know it was that no matter what sort of stupor he might be in most of the time his son was his one reason for being in the palace, for being with the Five.
If anything ever happened to his son he'd turn that instant, destroy every evil thing he could in the palace before he was finally stopped, and sometimes he forgot this thought as soon as he had it but often he recalled it, remembered it; it was a very strong feeling.
It was one he felt like he used to feel for his wife, but might not anymore.
He didn't know.
It was hard to find anything real in the palace, it hadn't surprised him that Yukio had stayed out of body for so long, maybe it would do the man some good; on most days he was as bad as Shiroi, reveling in the madness around them rather than even attempting to fight it.
Maybe, whatever Yukio had seen that kept him away would benefit him.
Maybe something out there could benefit Shiroi too. Maybe someday the rare scene Kurai witnessed of his wife being soft and kind wouldn't be a rarity anymore.
On the other hand, maybe this war would see that side of her washed away forever.
Only time would tell.
To Be Continued . . .
