It was a solid five minutes before he stopped laughing. Hiashi bit into a candied tomato and the fruit splattered all across his white coat. Kozue, an older woman in the branch family, once told Hizashi that knowledge was knowing a tomato was a fruit while wisdom was knowing not to put it in a fruit salad…or on a candied fruit skewer, apparently.
His cackling subsided when Hiashi demanded they trade coats. "It's not my fault you spilled food on yourself! You get your way all the time at home. You won't get it here." And every time Hiashi opened his mouth, Hizashi cut him off. "You heard me. No."
Hiashi pushed him for that, being more insistent than before because he didn't want to look like a slob in front of the foreigners. "How is that my problem!?" Hizashi shoved Hiashi back, only for his twin to lose his balance and break one of the festival booths. Several goldfish bags popped, leaking their contents (both wet and living) onto the boy's jacket. A fish got caught in Hiashi's hair, flopping around and doing its best to free itself to the wet stone below where it would gasp and sputter to its death.
It was at that point where Hizashi felt a tinge of guilt and compassion for his brother and helped pull him up to stand. "I'm sorry, Hiashi-sama," he apologized. "Come on. Let's go inside and eat something warm." They could catch up with their teammates later. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mikuro and Fugaku becoming frustrated with a ball toss game neither one seemed to be any good at.
"Hizashi." Hiashi's voice was low and almost apologetic as he shivered from the cold water soaking into his shirt. His twin walked a bit slower to match his pace as they made their way to a noodle house. "After we eat, I want to head back to the Akane District so I can change my—"
The younger twin paused when he caught sight of a young Akane woman holding her coat close to her body as she limped into a back alley. Food could wait. He was more interested in keeping warm than eating anything and he was fairly sure Hiashi would agree. Glancing down, he spotted blood droplets on the pavement. 'She's hurt…'
He pitied this miserable clan. It didn't take much to startle an Akane, let alone hurt them. They bruised easily, but Hiashi already knew that. He'd gone against Chigusa at the Chūnin Exams and the girl wanted a rematch last night. As talented and proficient as she'd become in using her pheromones to get what she wanted, Chigusa was no match for Hizashi's Gentle Fist.
How the Akane had lasted this long as a shinobi clan, he had no idea.
"Should we?" he whispered, wondering if Hiashi would agree with him that this needed to be done. His brother slowly nodded his head after giving Hizashi's sleeve a quick squeeze. "Excuse me. Miss?"
The woman lost her balance, tumbling to the ground. She hyperventilated, shivering either from the cold or from fear. Hizashi saw the terror in her tawny eyes as she stared back at him. She didn't appear to be much older than them and bore a very strong resemblance to Chigusa, even beyond the superficial traits all Akane shared. For every step he took toward the bewildered woman, she scooted further into the depths of the shady alley, scuttling back like a frightened crab.
"What is her problem?" Hiashi growled before craning his head into the alley. He talked more loudly and directed his next statement at the woman. "Damn it, we're trying to help you!"
"We're also foreign," Hizashi whispered back. "You can't expect her to trust someone she doesn't know. Especially not here." But it went well beyond that. Chigusa had told him what the culture was like in Koyamagakure. There was so much animosity against the Akane Clan that most of them were too scared to go anywhere alone, even in their own district. And then there were all those weird women in the masks. The whole village gave off what Fugaku's mother called a "bad smell."
'Even at home, there are many people who don't much care for our clan. Hiashi, are we at a risk of this becoming our fate? Will Konoha ever grow to hate us and declare open season on the Hyūga, too?' Despite the fact live musicians played their hearts out in the marketplace, the twins still managed to hear the occasional shriek or scream. 'We're in hell, but at least we'll leave this all behind when the mission is over. I pity Chigusa-san for having to stay.'
Hiashi huffed in annoyance as he held out a gloved hand for the Akane woman. "For heaven's sake, we're trying to help you! Calm down!" Hizashi could feel his twin's frustration without even having to look at him.
The woman meekly got to her feet, though her ankles quaked unsteadily. She moved closer, still clutching her coat, until she stood less than a foot away from the twins. "I'm sorry," she murmured, glancing down.
"It's alright," Hizashi tried to reassure her as she continued to fidget with the fabric. "I'd be scared, too, if I were an Akane."
She shook her head, dark red hair falling out of the messy bun she'd pulled it into. "You don't understand. I'm not sorry I ran. I'm sorry for what I'm about to do to you." She dropped the coat, showing she was completely bare underneath. An overpowering cloud of pheromones wafted out at such a high intensity that they were visible, making her beautiful body hazy in appearance and difficult to see.
Iwao-taichou and Buyo-sensei mentioned the pheromones were an aphrodisiac. There wasn't anything erotic in what Hizashi felt. All he could feel was panic and hysteria, plus the awful sensation of burning eyes. One blow to the chest would have been enough to crush this delicate creature's rib cage and kill her, but this…
He held on tightly to Hiashi, who in turn chose to cling to him, too. That was the only bit of comfort and security either boy could find before every sense overloaded and the world faded to black.
And the first thing Hizashi thought when he regained consciousness several hours later was that he found it strange: the anxious woman seemed calm and able to walk just fine once she squirted out the toxin like a skunk.
…
The first time Kaede put on the mask, she felt a rush of adrenaline through her body. The faint scent of hydrangeas caught her nose as she put the porcelain to her face. As much as she teased Mikuro in the past about his mask giving him acne, Kaede could barely hide her anticipation to learn the skills of these strong, foreign women. Very briefly, her fate could be joined to theirs. She'd savor the opportunity.
Plus, it would bring her that much closer to being the hero for once. Fugaku couldn't do this. Neither could Neyuki, Mikuro, Iwao-taichou, or even Buyo-taichou. "Mikuro-kun," Kaede called out, trying to find him inside Katsuro's mansion. She knew today would be the pivotal day. "Mikuro-kun!"
She found him brushing his teeth, still in his bedclothes. He was usually handsome, but wearing that mask for most of the mission had taken its toll. Kaede couldn't keep track of how many whiteheads and blackheads he'd gained on this mission. Gross. "Guess who pulled an all-nighter with the sensō-onna," the Uchiha girl whispered into his ear. "I have the thing you waaaaanted."
Mikuro's brown eyes glanced toward his teammate, watching as she sheepishly held up what was undeniably a sensō-onna mask. "Good job, Kaede. I take it you're going to pass out and get some beauty sleep?"
"Are you implying I need it?" There was a faint tone of warning to her voice, but Mikuro knew Kaede's personality well enough to know what was serious and what was teasing. "Did Iwao-taichou or Buyo-taichou find the twins yet? I'm worried."
"No. Neyuki's on the trail with Ashimaru." He and the dog took some of Hiashi's dirty laundry out of their shared bedroom and were using that in an attempt to find both boys. So far, the dog kept getting distracted. "I'm not too worried. The Akane are so weak that they may as well have glass bones. Plus, the sensō-onna would have no reason to attack the twins. Hiashi even held his own in a battle with a broken leg. He'll be fine."
Whatever happened out here would probably shake them up a bit and leave them rattled for a while, but both of those boys were resilient. They always bounced back.
Mikuro ran more water in the sink and used it to splash his hair, combing it back so he could get it into a paintbrush ponytail. Some of it fell out again due to the awkward length. Kaede took that as her queue to help. "There. Better?"
The older they became, the more handsome she found Mikuro. Sure, she'd dated Neyuki for almost two years, but Mikuro hopefully knew by now who Kaede truly wanted. Had she given him enough hints? Did she have to spell it out for him?
"I have to make sure my boys look their best at all times! It's a kunoichi thing." Mikuro gestured for her to close the door, which she did. Kaede leaned against the door and locked it, smiling coyly at him. "Don't you want to know how it went?" She had the Shimura boy's undivided attention. A tiny shiver of pleasure entered Kaede's body. "I trained with a brown-haired girl named Hōseki until sunrise. She's been a sensō-onna for about…five years, I think? We practiced kenjutsu, mostly. Every time I beat her, she'd tell me a little more about herself."
"I don't need a play-by-play, Kaede," Mikuro insisted, watching as a few strands came loose from his ponytail. "Did you learn anything? Any intel on Akane Clan or Seidou, for instance?"
"I missed my calling in life." That wasn't what he asked. "Those girls have a sense of community and sisterhood I've never felt before. Not with anyone other than Mitsumi…" And she saw it again: that forlorn look in her teammate's eyes. 'You still like my best friend more. I'm right here and you still fancy her! You're impossible!'
Her heart sank. "I know you wanted me to get more information on Seidou, but I barely saw her. As soon as I told her the twins were kidnapped, she sent some of her better ladies to try to find them. She's even helping with the search. The Akane Clan had us all convinced she's some kind of monster, but she's not!
"I think we've protected the wrong side, Mikuro-kun. Hōseki-san told me that Seidou-sama adopted her when her own mother could no longer afford to feed her." But she'd said far more than that. Hōseki overstepped her bounds when she told Kaede she'd have a better life in Konoha than she would if she joined the sensō-onna full time. She just assumed nobody starved back at home and that Kaede had a good family waiting for her, counting down the days until she returned.
"You know my mother, Mikuro-kun! You know what she's like. I didn't have the heart to tell Hōseki what kind of a woman is waiting for me back home. They're amazing girls. I don't want to leave them."
"You'll have to," Mikuro responded coldly as he scanned over the mask. He placed it to his face, just to see if it would fit. He'd need it later today. "What you want is irrelevant, Kaede. This isn't Konoha."
She heard the faint crack of porcelain and looked down to her teammate's hands. He'd slightly cracked the mask.
…
"Hizashi? Hizashi!" Hiashi frantically patted his brother's face, trying to help him regain consciousness. He'd woken up first, only to discover they were both stripped down to their undershirts and undergarments. Everything else had been taken away. The veins in Hiashi's face pulsed and strained as he tried to locate their missing things. All he caught instead were the bodies and chakra of nearly two dozen Akane in various parts of the building.
When his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of the room, it appeared to be a storage closet with a cot and a chamber pot carelessly thrown to the corner. A low electric light flickered, threatening to go out entirely. The only other light came from the crack beneath the locked metal door. The walls were stone. He couldn't find any weak points.
Hiashi's heart rate remained elevated, refusing to slow down. Although his face still hurt from where the Akane woman sprayed him with her pheromones, an uncomfortable and impure sensation registered in his body…and, he noted, his brother's. Hizashi had an unseemly bulge between his legs and Hiashi felt the bile rise in his throat.
The Hyūga were a rather repressed people who saw themselves as pure and incorruptible. The twins' parents made it clear to both boys that this was a shameful thing to feel and it would simply have to go away on its own. This entire town had to be the birthplace of all things impure and lewd. The thoughts that swam in his head left him feeling far from himself and disgusted afterward.
Home. That was literally the only thing he wanted now: to be at home with their family, being waited upon by the branch family. Maybe he and Hizashi could get a good laugh out of this later, but for now…
"Hey…hey, come on. Wake up." He shook Hizashi, watching as he groggily opened his eyes. Embracing his twin closely, Hiashi let loose a shaky sigh. "Are you alright?" Very slowly, Hizashi nodded his head and curled up to his brother. "We're locked in. I can't find a way out."
Hizashi groaned, trying to make his headache subside. "Is there any water in here? My eyes…my face…"
A work sink was in the corner along with a couple of dirty rags. Hiashi grimaced because it looked filthy, but it would have to do. He twisted the nozzle, watching as water poured out. Perhaps he'd feel better without the Akane chemicals seeping into his skin. "I'll wash you off," he offered. "Think I can convince you to do the same with me afterward?"
Very slowly, Hizashi nodded and undressed, placing what few garments he had left into the basin. "Why would an Akane do this to us? All we've done since we got here was help them."
Hiashi knew most of what he felt at that moment were pheromones and not his natural thoughts. Mentally, he needed to remind himself of that because his eyes kept returning to Hizashi's bare back, paying attention to the few scars he'd gathered since they first joined Team Buyo. That and how his long, dark hair had grown to the point where it covered his rear when he stood upright.
He swallowed a wad of saliva that felt heavy as an apricot stone as it slid down his sore throat. Hizashi had an almost flawless body. 'Do I look like this, too?' The wet rag stroked naked skin, leaving a thin layer of cold water behind. Hizashi's flesh turned clammy and he shivered, not realizing Hiashi did the same thing for completely different, ugly reasons.
He could see Hizashi's breath as visible puffs of air, catching a faint after-aroma of candied fruit as he panted, trying to warm up. "I'm almost done with your back," Hiashi reassured his twin in what he hoped sounded like a soft and innocent tone. At least, he wanted it to be innocent. "Turn around and I'll get your–"
"No." Hizashi covered a part of himself and fiercely shook his head. "I'll do that myself. Don't watch me." But he knew he would. "Stop paying attention to me and wash yourself off. You're making me uncomfortable."
"I'd rather you helped me. I think I took a stronger hit than you did." He watched as Hizashi moved his lips, tempted to say something (probably a more polite version of go fuck yourself), but the branch Hyūga thought twice and kept his mouth shut instead, reaching for the other rag.
The instant the damp thing came into contact with his bare chest, Hiashi shivered. Hizashi wasn't anywhere near as gentle with him. Instead, he applied as much pressure and force as he could to scrub his twin's skin raw, hoping to force whatever pheromones he already absorbed out of his body. In some places, he washed so furiously that Hiashi felt the early makings of new bruises. "Hizashi, wait." What sank into his flesh would merely have to remain, but pushing on it, pushing on every assaulted and sensitive pore–
Without warning, Hizashi let loose a disgusted wail and threw the rag to the ground. "You're getting off to this, aren't you?! You're disgusting!" He didn't even want to look at him. Instead, the younger twin reached for his dripping wet underclothes, not even caring how cold he'd be, and quickly put them back on. He curled into the fetal position, facing the wall.
Hiashi wanted to apologize. It wasn't him. He wasn't like that. It was the pheromones—really! "Hizashi, I–" All his twin did was swat at him and curl himself into an even tighter ball.
…
Fugaku turned his head to the left to see Chigusa sitting on the stone gate of her household eating a few pieces of dried banana. Her eyes glanced down to her food. She offered some fruit to him and gestured for him to sit beside her. "I'm wearing gloves," she reassured him. "I don't want to make you sick again. I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am that I–"
"You can't help it, Chigusa. Your father said the pheromones come out when you feel certain emotions. Even some adult Akane can't control them, right?" He never intended to mention it to Chigusa, but he liked the peppery smell. In the right location and context, he could even enjoy what a lower dosage did to his body. "All I can figure is you're really, really glad to have your father back."
Chigusa faintly smiled and turned her gaze away. As she did so, Fugaku noticed her golden eyes were slightly shiny from tears.
He could understand. There were few people in his life with fathers even half as decent as his. Sarani was such a calm, sensible, respectable man and carried himself with dignity and grace. "If I lost mine…" He knew. He'd raise heaven and earth trying to bring Sarani home, even if it meant throwing himself into the face of danger. "I can't imagine what it would be like, knowing he's being passed around from place to place as a political prisoner."
He accepted the dried banana and caught a whiff of Chigusa's spicy aroma. When the wind blew by, her auburn ponytail smacked his face like a cat's tail. Her delicate fingers reached for his sun-tanned wrist and she placed her hand above his. "We sent people to bring him home before, or at least negotiate with his captors. I'm the first Akane to come back alive. My older sister, Shinsa…she suggested that I go because I had friends in Konoha."
'Mitsumi. Myself. Nawaki.' That wasn't enough, but it was a start. "Did we gain your trust again during this mission? I know we aren't staying long enough to make a significant impact in this village, but–"
"It's alright. We'll make it work somehow. We have to. We can't keep throwing money away, thinking that will solve all our problems." The village was sick. Parts of it were even dying and Chigusa recognized that. "You're fortunate, Fugaku-kun. Your village is a diverse tapestry of clan threads interwoven together as something strong and secure. Even if one thread is pulled out, it can survive and nobody would ever notice. But here? We're all alone."
Fugaku felt the warmth of Chigusa's hand even from inside her glove. A light flurry began, coating the Hidden Knolls Village in a thin layer of frost. Murky things floating in the river were lightly laced in white. The girl's body felt warmer than even his and somehow, despite everything, he still felt comfortable around her.
This outwardly chipper girl had to put on a good face for the whole of the world while her neighbors prayed for her clan's destruction. He hadn't even been ten years old the first time he was discriminated against for being an Uchiha, but that felt petty by comparison to what Chigusa and her people had endured.
Fugaku could at least take solace in knowing Konoha would never sanction genocide.
"You told me you were excited to show us Koyamagakure. You sounded proud that day." He knew today was the Day of Pride for the festival. Mikuro was supposed to take Akane Katsuro to the center of the village as his personal bodyguard today. "I can't understand why you would be. As beautiful as it is, this place is dangerous. The hate in the air is even more palpable than your pheromones."
Chigusa nuzzled closer, resting her head on Fugaku's shoulder. "I know," she confessed. "I'm all too aware I live in hell. But even hell starts to sound nice when you realize the whole world hates you and there's nowhere left to go." There was a melancholic air to her: something Fugaku could sense by how faint Chigusa's aroma had become. She truly was a sweet girl: one of the sweetest he knew. "You mentioned to me once that the Uchiha are discriminated against in your village. Is that still true?"
Very faintly, a murmured "yes" left his lips.
At home, every Uchiha had to be publicly identified with the family crest. Any able-bodied shinobi in the clan had to join the Konohagakure Military Police Force and live with the fact that was as high as they can possibly climb. Madara, their founding father in the village, had become a swear word in the eyes of the people. And their villagers suspected the sins of the few weighed upon the hearts of the many. Konoha showed their appreciation for most of the shinobi clans, but behaved as though the Uchiha still owed them something far beyond their lives.
"Why don't you relocate here?" Chigusa offered, snuggling closer to Fugaku. "If the Uchiha Clan moved here, Seidou couldn't justify her killer kunoichi squads anymore. We wouldn't be the only shinobi clan! I think that's what it boils down to: we're too different from everyone else. Together, we could–"
"There's no way. The Hokage would never let us." Even if Fugaku wanted to leave—which he didn't—he recognized his status as a caged animal. Konoha did not belong to the Uchiha; the Uchiha belonged to Konoha. "I'm sorry, Chigusa. We'll part ways after tomorrow."
It was final, and no amount of tears or pleading embraces could remedy that bitter truth.
…
Although Hizashi protested it, Hiashi moved closer to him for warmth and solace from the cold and damp. His younger twin felt so tense and on edge in his arms. He could feel him cursing and swearing under his breath, not wanting to look at him. "If you poke me with anything, I'm going to smack you," Hizashi warned.
"I'm telling you, it's the–"
"I don't care what you call it." When they got out of here, they'd never breathe a word of this to anyone else. "You're creeping me out and I don't want you near me."
'I can't help it! Don't you realize that!? I know I scared you, but there is no one in the world I love more than I love you!' Hiashi hated these people now. They had distorted and mutilated the innocent fondness he carried for his twin and turned it into something disgusting and shameful. "Are you warmer, at least?"
The door cracked open and a middle-aged Akane man entered the room. Out of instinct, Hiashi defensively held onto his twin. "Why are we locked up in here? I demand to know!" he snapped. "We were protecting your clan head and this is the thanks we get?!"
"Please don't think of this as anything personal, boy," the man responded, locking the door. The twins stood to their feet, readying their stance. "Try it. You're probably still feeling weak from the last burst. When Shinsa got you, you were fully dressed. What do you think is going to happen when you're showing so much bare skin?"
The man moved closer, watching as the boys tried to keep the same amount of distance. "I heard you earlier," he admitted. "Did you spook your brother? I know you probably could kill me with one well-placed hit, but do you want to risk what touching my body will do to yours?"
Suddenly, Hiashi wasn't as sure as he'd been before. "At least tell us what you're planning to do with us. We deserve that much."
"You're leverage. It's as simple as that. Since one of you is the Hyūga heir, we're convinced your village will meet our demands and give us what we need to get rid of our clans' largest enemy. We have no intention of causing permanent harm to either one of you…unless you fight back or your comrades refuse to cooperate."
Hiashi squeezed his brother's hand tightly, up to the point where Hizashi grimaced. Whatever happened, he wouldn't let the Akane Clan separate them. He'd do his best to ensure no harm came to Hizashi. If that meant cooperating, then–
"Sorry, boys. It's nothing personal, but we need to make sure your team knows we have you. Now…" The man pulled out a kunai and watched as both boys' stared at it in panic. "Which one of you is Hiashi?"
Hiashi tried to stop his brother, but he couldn't. Hizashi stepped forward and gave a quiet bow before their captor. 'No. What are you doing? He has a kunai, you idiot! He'll…'
The Akane man touched the boy's face, feeling the heat in his cheeks. Hizashi shook again, feeling another surge of that disgusting chemical assault his senses. His legs felt weak as the man brushed his hair out of his face. For a brief few seconds, their eyes met. Hizashi was caught in his lie and all three souls in the room knew it.
Hizashi was slapped across the face with enough force to send him stumbling backward. His head hit the cold stone wall and he fell to the ground, too intoxicated to stand. He was at least able to turn his head in the direction of his brother in time to see Hiashi being dragged out of the cell by his ponytail, screaming in pain. "NO! PLEASE! DON'T TAKE HIM!"
But it was too late. The door shut and locked. A nearby door groaned and slammed a few seconds later. With his byakugan on, Hizashi could see everything but was powerless to stop it.
Hiashi was forced to kneel on the ground, even with the man still firmly grasping his hair. By this point, his panic reached critical mass. 'He's going to slit my throat,' he thought. Why else would he want him on the ground? He refused to beg or plead for his life, though. His father raised him to be braver than that.
He felt the sharpness of the kunai scrape against the back of his neck, separating his hair from his scalp. As his hair loosened, leaving his head behind, his fingernails dug into his knees. Having one's hair cut was oftentimes a sign of shame and weakness in the clan.
The kunai hacked away at his long locks, cutting as much as it could while keeping the separated hair as one unified clump. The man was rough and forceful about it, shoving Hiashi's head in different directions so it would be easier to cut his hair. The boy hyperventilated, his mind reeling with how the clan would react upon seeing him. It could take years to grow it all back.
Less than a minute from the time his captor started, the Hyūga boy was left with an uneven, disheveled, short mess. Hiashi reached to touch it, finding clumps varying in length from half the length of his index finger to little more than bristle. He'd never felt so violated in his life.
"You'd better pray this negotiation goes well. If it doesn't, I'm coming back for an eye."
…
"I don't think you understand. We can't change the course of our mission without our village council's authorization." Buyo refused to budge in this regard, even though Iwao was starting to show some hesitance. "All we were paid to do was escort Katsuro-sama back to his home village, return him to his people, and stay for the course of the Red Sun Festival to ensure he survived it. It's the Day of Pride today." Tomorrow would be the Day of Love: the final day of the festival. "You have today and tomorrow. That's all."
Four Heads of Household had confronted the Aburame and Akimichi men about the impending termination of the mission. "Buyo's right. We told you an extension would cost more," Iwao added. "But all that's going to do is buy you a few more days."
The whispering began again. In some ways, Buyo pitied these people. In other ways, he felt greatly annoyed by how they'd do anything in a fit of panic if they thought it would help their situation. Cowards. That's all they were: frightened poisonous creatures who were tired of being preyed upon by the big and strong.
"What can we do to make you change your mind about this? We need you here." The Akane Clan, just like Buyo, refused to budge. "And what we need Konoha to do is destroy the overzealous warmonger living in our cliffs. We didn't have any of this animosity from the other locals until Seidou became their self-proclaimed champion."
"She claims to be immortal. Is there any truth to that?"
"Yes." All the Akane moved out of their way for a young, pretty woman with her nails and lips painted a rather vibrant shade of cinnabar red. "I killed Seidou before. She came back the following day." She stepped before the two Konoha elite and bowed. "My name is Shinsa. I'm Lord Katsuro's firstborn. You escorted my baby sister back to Koyamagakure along with my father."
And judging from how her comrades in the clan treated her, they clearly expected her to lead in the near future. "My father has endured great hardships and we fear he'll never be able to rule us properly. He's too broken. Once he's safe and that devil-woman is dead, he can retire in peace. For now, all negotiations with my clan shall go through me."
The two men bowed, but Iwao glanced toward his old friend and sighed. "They won't take no for an answer, will they? Should we hear them out?"
"Do you want to incite a civil war?" Buyo retorted. "Humor them even a little and it's on our hands."
"Do you know what else will be on your hands if you don't cooperate with us, Aburame-san?" Shinsa's eyes narrowed. "My clan learned a harsh and bitter lesson from how the world treated my father. The Akane Clan was headless for years: thinking there had to be at least one decent village out there that would show mercy and return him to us. Instead, every 'kindness' they gave him had to come from our own pockets. We were fleeced, bled dry, exploited…"
The angrier Shinsa became, the more the others could smell her natural spice. She was a pungent thing, far more intense than the others. "If Konohagakure does not meet the demands of the Akane Clan and provide us the closure we need from our greatest internal enemy, then I'm afraid we have no choice but to play dirty, too."
She opened her handbag and pulled out something dark and long: a familiar-looking ponytail. "If this continues, I'm afraid the Hyūga Clan will have to name a replacement heir." Shinsa tossed it toward Buyo, watching as the hair hit the floor and scattered. "Seidou must be dead by the end of the festival. If she isn't, you'll never see those boys again."
…
"You've been suffering this entire time; haven't you?"
Mikuro froze, pills still in hand. Katsuro was never supposed to see the amount of medication he'd taken as they remained in this foggy, hilly hell. "I think I'm allergic," he admitted. "My commanding officer told me the side effects most people experience from the air here. Arousal sounds nice, but all you Akane have given me are migraines."
The Akane head smiled apologetically, quite embarrassed. "Is that why you've been on edge since we left Konoha? I merely assumed you weren't fond of my clan."
"I'm indifferent," Mikuro responded tersely. Nature was going to run its course today. He would shed no tears for the Akane or these other civilians. When the mission concluded, he would lose no sleep over this terrible place. It was merely another mission and he'd done all he could to become attached to nobody here. The more they tried to open up to him (especially Chigusa), the more standoffish he became.
'It's in their nature to do that,' Danzō had warned him. 'The Akane aren't physically strong, but they're highly manipulative. They seek out saviors and champions they can control.' And along that vein, he already suspected Chigusa suckered Fugaku into being a host for the Akane cause. Fugaku would come back here someday. Mikuro could feel it in his blood.
It was part of why he'd wanted to keep a closer eye on Fugaku than anyone else. Fugaku was who he worried about the most. He'd think about Koyamagakure for weeks, maybe even years, after they left it. And someday, the temptation would be too great and he'd come back here to play the hero and save the day. But they weren't heroes. They were shinobi. "Katsuro-sama?"
The Akane man turned to face the masked boy. "Yes, lad?"
"What do you plan to do after we leave?"
"Ha ha…I'm open for suggestions, honestly. I rightly don't know."
Some people would have found that nervous laugh calming and endearing. Mikuro found it irresponsible and proof of Katsuro's incompetence. Perhaps it wasn't his fault he'd become so ineffective, but he couldn't shirk his responsibilities. 'You're a clan head, damn you. Start acting like one.'
But he wouldn't, would he? For the remainder of Katsuro's life, he'd be henpecked by his fellow Akane and make no decisions of his own beyond what he chose to eat or wear. The world took the fight out of him.
Mikuro pitied this man for the terrible life he'd lived up to this point. 'I don't know how it feels to be held prisoner in foreign lands, or to have the whole of the world hate me for my lineage. I can't pretend to understand you, but I don't have to. That isn't part of my job.'
As they made it toward the festival, coming close enough to hear the death songs leaving the villagers' mouths, Mikuro realized what needed to be done. "Katsuro-sama?"
The Akane man turned to face him, still smiling apologetically. A faint echo of confusion rested in Katsuro's amber eyes, wondering what the boy would say next.
"You don't know what's best for your clan or your village, do you?"
"…"
"It's alright if you don't. I'm about to take it out of your hands." No one was watching, anyway.
Katsuro noticed Mikuro's hands were in the process of weaving signs, but it was too late for him to do much more than create a self-defensive cloud of pheromones. "What are you doing!? You were paid to protect me, you pock-marked bastard!"
"Negative. I was paid to escort you back and protect the Akane's future. If you wanted us to protect you, you should have been a bit more specific with your request."
"Please. No! Haven't I suffered enough!? Haven't my people–"
Mikuro had practiced his wind release techniques from his Academy days onward and perfected his Shinkūdama to the point where he could pierce through trees. The human chest cavity was far softer and much, much easier. From the exit wound, what remained of Katsuro's lungs and heart splattered to the ground. The man fell forward, his entrails going backward. Death came for the Akane head so quickly that it may as well have been painless.
Mikuro pocketed the boar mask and placed the sensō-onna mask he borrowed from Kaede upon his face. 'I can't stay here. The smell is too pungent.' His head threatened to split in two. He departed, leaving Katsuro's body to seep its toxic blood into the damned Koyamagakure earth.
Two blocks away, he had to stop and vomit.
