`Usagi-chan, will you give me something if I let you leave?` Ayame hears Shinsuke ask her again on that road so long ago. She grits her teeth and puts it to the back of her mind. She has other concerns now.
During the fight, she tries to get close to Izuna, ignoring danger this time. Izuna fights against three opponents, the general going for close combat while the other two assist from mid-range. Their attacks seem focused on killing blows.
She keeps an eye for the other two as well. They are closer to the exists, making sure she doesn't get away. She turns back to the main fight.
`Now it would have been a great time for the general to say he wants us alive`, she thinks, irrationally angry. Despite his injuries Izuna seems to hold on quite well. Maybe. She doesn't know anymore. It is clear they are not trying to get them alive. She starts running towards them, hoping Izuna will get what she's going for and give her a straight line to him. They do not stay put, Izuna weaving in, out and around the rubble, columns and barricades so that he isn't boxed in.
She gets distracted for a moment in tracking Izuna's movements and when she checks for the other two soldiers, she can't find them anymore. She whirls back reflexively, guard up in a parry and gets a spear through her guard. The point smashes in her chest. The wood shatters and the force throws her back, her armour breaking from impact in the back as well.
By dumb luck and reflexes honed from countless repetitions, she manages to deflect another hit but the reverse move catches her left side, thankfully not with the point. She is knocked sideways into a bronze statue and she blacks out.
She wakes up on a hard chest. She touches the sides gingerly. It is cold and unyielding. She opens her eyes. It is dark.
Her memories are jagged glass fragments and trying to piece them together hurts. Her thoughts run sluggish. She turns her head carefully, muscles straining painfully and looks around. There's light coming from somewhere. She's in a cave. No, a cavern-like structure. Eyes adjusting in the dim light, she sees a ceiling, tapering in a point, walls that seem decorated in spirals. The smells are clean and slightly damp, a stark contrast to the burning city from behind.
Her chest hurts when she breathes. Her whole body is stiff. A cold draft makes her shiver. She hears a moaning sound rise and culminate with a piercing wailing sound, making the whole roof vibrate. It sounds like a monster.
Her memory comes back and she jumps up awkwardly, muscles stiff, and slides from her perch almost spraining her left ankle. She sees what she was sitting onto and she swears. The torso of the bronze statue is under her, cold now, partially melted on one side from a fire jutsu. Izuna must have done it.
`Don't tell me I took the statue with me and not Izuna`, she thinks. She almost pulls her hair.
`I am here`, she hears. She turns and now she sees a silhouette. Izuna had been watching her.
`Where are we?` her sides hurt when she breathes. She is also bleeding from a leg wound she hasn't noticed.
Izuna tells her to come and see. His left side is slick with blood. He moves carefully, keeping her on his right side.
She goes, towards him and it gets lighter, then they're out and a vista opens up. They are on top of a thin spire of a mountain, surrounded by tall peaks. The vegetation is lush and green lower on the slopes and the sky is darkening with clouds.
The first bout of lightning strikes, followed by hundreds of others. A flash-storm. Then, one strikes their spire, and it resonates with a clear note, like the ringing of a bell, followed immediately by a lower booming sound of the thunder. The whole building vibrates, the sound-wave rippling through her in one strong ripple.
After it ends, her muscles aren't stiff anymore. On the negative side, her wounds hurt even more than before, blood flowing faster.
The sky opens and water starts pouring in torrents from the sky, accompanied by flashes of lightning and booms of thunder. The spire is singing, roof resonating with various notes from the rain. Some pots under the eaves collect rain in a counter melody.
Soon, torrents like waterfalls form on the slopes, adding the sounds of rushing torrents. From time to time, lightning strikes the roof, making it toll gravely again and again, rattling her to her bones. Other, similar bell-like sounds of different pitches are heard from afar. Flashes of lightning touch the tops of the mountains, fingers of light.
After every sound wave, Ayame feels her head spin and her muscles turn to water. She feels something loosening inside her, running through her body, at the same time comforting and icy.
`Lightning Country`, Izuna breaths. `How did we get here?`
`I suppose I wanted the opposite`, Ayame thinks.
Izuna turns to her and motions to get inside the building. She hesitates, thinking about the shiny roof and the lightning strikes but the pouring rain doesn't leave her with much choice. They take shelter in the temple. Inside, lights have bloomed from the walls, washing the interior in a warm glow. The lightning energy seems to have been harvested.
Now with enough light, Ayame checks her clothes for her hidden scrolls. She has several sewn into her clothes for unexpected situations, one with a modern emergency kit. She opens them with her blood since her chakra is almost non-existent. Izuna watches her.
To distract him, Ayame asks him for clarifications regarding their earlier altercation.
Izuna agrees, on the condition that she must also answer his questions afterwards. Ayame nods and he begins.
From his story, she understands, there was an Empire, or a Big Country, she is not sure on the right terminology, comprising Fire, Rice, Hot Water and Iron Country. At some point, the ninja clans along with the border nobles started to rebel and the empire fractured and went to a series of warlords. As reasons, those from Iron were the first to rebel because resources were scarce and they had to fight with Iwa all the time. On the borders with Wind, incursions in Fire's fertile lands got more frequent and they did not get any help from the central government. Rice country had heavy taxes, as well as Hot Water. It was the usual history, so similar to the end of imperial rule in Japan, she almost thinks she went back in a slightly alternate version of history.
Her throat still feels parched and hurts from the earlier smoke and ash. She goes back to the opening and still under the roof, strains to drink rainwater. It tastes cold and fresh, slightly metallic with a faint electric aftertaste. It's invigorating. She feels full of energy. She smiles. Izuna has a ghost of a smile as well.
She spies a round ladle with a long thin handle balanced on the top of a dragon's head, next to the entrance. She takes it, washes it in rainwater and drinks deeply. Izuna raises an eyebrow at her and she shrugs.
`I'm not going to use it to wash my hands. See? Washed by rain already` she says stretching her right hand outward, letting rain run through her fingers.
She continues watching the rain fall. The thunder is a constant thrum, almost like a heart. It also gets colder so she instinctively scoots closer to Izuna.
`Before you ask, I have no idea when, where, why, who or how you died. I only knowyou're not there`.
`Why look for me specifically?`
Ayame shifts uncomfortably. Izuna snorts. `As leverage against my brother?`
`No`, she denies. `Not exactly`. She sighs. `You'll see when we get there. It's hard to explain`.
Izuna shrugs, leans back and closes his eyes. He had used the bandages and disinfectant she had put out for him while she ostensively went out to drink. He did not take the painkillers.
`You know, I imagined you a bit differently`, she says. Izuna does not react but she continues anyway, to keep her mind out of the cold. `Your older brother is serious so you should have been his foil: more sarcastic, daredevil...` . Izuna only looks at her and shakes his head.
They stay silent, watching the rain from the entrance. Ayame broods. He hasn't asked her any more details on how they'll get back. He does not seem tense.
`Zettai ha zettai ni nai is what my brother always says`, he says after a while, seemingly reading her thoughts.
`Did he say that before battle?` Ayame asks idly.
`When he tried to convince us to make peace with the Senju`, he replies. `We still fought a lot with the Senju clan. Did they manage to have real peace after all?`
`Despite you being killed most probably by the Senju, you mean?` Ayame replies, cutting to the subject. Izuna seemingly remains unbothered but his eyes glitter dangerously.
`Did you wish for the fighting to continue?` she asks him.
`You need a clear winner if you want to feel safe at least a while`, Izuna replies. `And maybe we like fighting for fighting's sake` he adds smiling coldly. `We have Battle-blood, don't you know?`
`Winning without a fight is the mark of a great general` Ayame replies.
`Who said that?`
`A great general`.
`Did that general win his fights without battling?`
`Maybe some….but in later days he started wars`.
Izuna snorts softly and shakes his head. She sighs frustrated. The thunderstorm continues.
Boredom and exhaustion set in. The landscape, the sounds are impressive, but the cold the sheet of rain makes it impossible to see anything. After a while, even the falling lightning-strikes stop bothering her so much. The sound-waves crash into her once, twice from the actual thunder and then pass. Her body got used to it and it's almost comforting. The sound of rain is lulling her to sleep.
Aimlessly, Ayame takes Izuna's hand, rough and scarred from cuts and burns. She traces scars absently, a hint of curiosity in the mind-numbing boredom that has settled. Hands tell so much about a person.
He puts his other arm around her and tugs at her obi. She jumps away, dropping his hand like hot iron. His fingers close on her hand and she cannot get away.
`No, just NO. What? Why, no, why? Did you think…` She starts, bewildered.
`Isn't this why you took us to a secluded place? It has great energy flow as well. I presume you plan to exact a price for taking me back` Izuna tells her, roughly forcing her to sit again next to him.
Ayame feels the blood drain from her face. `NO!`, she stammers. `How could you think I…` she stops. She is trembling from rage, at him for his assumptions, at her for not being able to explain properly. If I were a guy we won't be having this discussion, she thinks irritated. She takes a deep breath, which coincides with a thunderclap. The Ripple, as she had started calling it, washes away her fury and she faces him again, more calmly. `Have you ever received that kind of offer?' she asks him.
Izuna shrugs.
`It's not because I plan to take anything from you that we are stopping here` she starts.
Izuna watches her from under his eyelashes. They're long and glossy and she is momentarily distracted. She shakes her head continues.
`It's because I'm not sure I c-`.She sees the corner of Izuna's mouth twitch and she stops.
`You send signals that are easy to misinterpret`, Izuna replies calmly.
Ayame grimaces and scoots away from him. Izuna does not comment anymore but he seems to be deep in thought. Ayame also starts replaying their last conversation and starts having doubts about the sincerity of his actions. Am I that easy to read? Everybody attacks me from this angle.
`I will make you happy then`, Izuna says suddenly and she tenses but he gets up stiffly and checks his injury. He goes out and drinks deeply as well, then turns towards her.
`Save me`, he tells her and steps into the void.
Ayame screams and immediately regrets it. Her throat is on fire. She jumps after him, her other injuries forgotten. She stretches her hands but they are too far apart and the distance between them is widening. The cold wind is whipping their hair and clothes around. Why does gravity have to work the same here, she thinks desperately when Izuna, takes off his hair tie and his hair flows up in wet tendrils. She manages to catch a wet strand and grips it with all her power, terrified. They almost start down a foaming torrent when they hit warm water.
She instinctively opens her mouth and salt water rushes in her nose and throat. Izuna gets up, balancing on top of the water and Ayame floats. They look around. It is morning. The weather is sunny and warm, a soft breeze making small undulating waves. There's no land in sight. The turquoise sea is darker around Ayame, blood dissipating in thin tendrils, like smoke.
The sun will become a threat soon, of heatstroke and dehydration. Izuna takes Ayame on his back and starts moving toward a random direction. The water is not the indigo of the deep ocean, but 3 or 300 metres is not a big difference with no land in sight.
Soon, the sun beats down on them mercilessly. She puts a cloth on her head. She asks from time to time to be let into the water to cool down. Her throat is raw her lips cracked. Her skin itches from the salt. Her wounds sting. They either got cleaner or she got a nasty thing. Izuna has white lines running down his clothes.
She thinks of sharks. But none come. The sun continues shining even brighter.
Ayame gets lightheaded. She feels like going down into the sea. Izuna also starts losing some of his control. He stumbles and falls into the water sometimes. Dehydration has set in for both of them.
Ultimately, he can't carry her anymore and lets her into the water. Ayame floats, not caring about her wound anymore. A shark would be better. They might get somewhere else.
The water under her starts boiling and she screams in surprise. Izuna kicks her out of the water and starts running, a rush of adrenaline waking them out of their stupor. The water starts bubbling and evaporating around them with a thin whistling sound. They are in a kettle pot. There's a reddish glow somewhere down, under the water. Ayame feels suffocated from the hot steam.
They fall and get in the middle of a rice field, splashing in the mud. For a few seconds, the cold feels like heaven, then she remembers the wound, sees the reddish glow of fires and recognises the place.
The ringing in her ears from the high pitch kettle like sounds disappear and she hears screams and shouts. Somebody stomps the mud next to her face, throwing wet earth on her face. The blurry form of Izuna staggers and joins the fray. She gets up as well and stumbles upon a corpse. It moans in pain and she realises it's still alive. Looking at its face she sees Tadanobu, face white from a deep wound in his belly. The ringing in her ears from before, returns with a vengeance. She frantically tries to help him, slips in the mud. In the end, she manages to drag him out of the field.
It had got surprisingly quiet. A couple of figures mill around but none seem interested to approach her or attack. Izuna appears at her side and tries to drag her away. Her frantic protests attract the attention of the others, who do not dismiss her for a civilian caught in a crossfire anymore, and fan around her and Izuna, with Tadanobu between them.
`Who is there?`, she hears a voice. The speaker is a man in his forties, eyes and hair black, dressed in nondescript dark faded clothing, perfect for moving around at night undetected. `Identify yourself`.
`Identify yourself`, Izuna replies, and the man stiffens, before recovering. He rummages in a backpack and takes out something rectangular and metallic, which glints in the night. it has a swirly symbol on it.
`We're the Uchiha Police Force from the village of Konohagakure, here on road maintenance. We saw fires and came to help. We have subdued the perpetrators. Now it's your turn. Are you Uchiha Izuna?`, the man asks flatly, voice hard.
`Hello Saito-san`, Izuna replies. `Did you marry Haruko in the end?`
The man, Uchiha Saito stiffens then seems to relax. Next to her Izuna tenses and Ayame looks up from trying to staunch the bleeding from Tadanobu's wound. A second afterwards, the other men also shift into a battle stance. Five newcomers appear in the night.
`What do you want, Kunichika?` she hears Saito ask coolly. `Shouldn't you be somewhere else?`
`We decided we should help our fellow village members in their duties`, she hears a gravelly voice answer from the darkness. `Too much suspicious things happening around, what with you lot scurrying around like rats along the borders. I see you have some prisoners. We'll take them for interrogation and you can wrap things up here`.
`You are mistaken`, Saito replies.
`Am I? We'll see during the interrogation`.
`No`.
`No? Do you perhaps know them, Saito? Are you in league with them? Should we take you back for an interrogation?`
Izuna slowly moves closer to the ground, prepared to rush in.
Saito laughs. `It's the Chief of Police Archives for you, Kunichika. And I dare you try and drag me anywhere`.
Ayame puts her head down and tries to encourage Tadanobu. He grips her hands forcefully, teeth chattering from cold. He keeps asking for water but she doesn't have any. She screws her eyelids shut, trying to block everything else, trying to see how they can get Tadanobu to safety, when a searing light dances in front of her eyelids, then Hanae is next to her, shaking her shoulder and spiriting her away. She shouts at him they need to take Tadanobu as well but Hanae only strengthens his grip on her. Izuna sprints after them. Around them the stalemate has dissolved into a melee the other Uchiha having joined in trying to help them get away.
Tadanobu remains on the ground.
Same night, end of May, Iwa Daimyo Summer House, K18
The Iwa Daimyo is lost in the movements of his character. His mask only lets him see a little, helping him focus on the dance moves. He played the warrior shura mono, the madwoman kyōjo mono and is now in the final play, getting ready to vanquish the oni.
Tomorrow he will leave for the capital to meetings with the Iwa shinobi about their intelligence gathered in Fire and Wind Country. Today they aren't here. Daimyo do not let ninja in their home, but keep the tool separate. They are patrolling the outside of the residence, protecting him from afar. Inside, he has his loyal retainers.
The demon suddenly turns to him, head swinging. It dances closer and closer, and suddenly the hand strikes and he feels the bite of steel in his flesh, feels a momentary coldness and the Iwa daimyo expires.
The tomo and tsure start attacking as well, clearing the oni's path. There is only time for some strangled screams, easily silenced.
One stops and asks the oni in a low voice. `Did the others hear us?`
The oni makes a series of signs, listens then shakes his head. `Still in the clear`.
`Good, let's keep it that way`, the other replies. `You can go first, I'll arrange the room`.
The other nods and the three clones dispel. The other gets to work.
Off in the fields, Hatake receives his clones' memories. He gets up and continues on his first mission. Suzuki has everything under control.
Same night, outside the gates of Sunagakure
Madara looks up at the gates, makes a seal and the gates get blown away. He jumps in, running on top of buildings, fighting more and more opponents. He has missed this, the action the thrill of battle, the thrill of fighting strong opponents. And he should pay back that insult. Interested in Tobirama indeed. Objectively recognising that man's talents doesn't change the fact he wants to rip his insides out for what he did to his brother. But it is still time. He will take everything from Tobirama, his most precious thing. He is Hokage now so his village should be enough.
He rushes in and the shinobi become more and more desperate to stop him. He grins and pushes onwards toward their water reservoirs. He will pay them back tenfold.
Notes:
I played wth various tropes here: the most obvious one is the cave incident. No explanations needed I hope.
Noh theatre is heavily refernced here. There's a form of theatre which developed under the tutelage of the samurai, a sort of interpretative dance story telling, heavily stylised. There are five types, three which are presented here. The daimyo is killed, fittingly by the oni during the final play, called kiri, which can mean, depending on the context, `end` or `cut`.