Guess who is back so soon after their former update, it is I, Lott!
It's the very beginning of The dark side of Uzushio arc. So no warning for that chapter.
Also, I made some last minute changes so it's possible that some of my worldbuilding contradict itself (I haven't check tbf) and once the Uzushio arc ends, I will go on a small hiatus to smooth the chapters I have already written and start the worldbuilding for the Uchiha, the Senju and the Fire Country.
Anyway, enjoy!
Chapter 15: The lion and the maelstrom
Laying on her side, Nagisa watched her little brother adjust his position, wiggling just slightly deeper in her embrace before her arms tightened ever so slightly around his fragile little body.
His giggles were a delight to hear, sounds similar to an angel's blessings and she clung to it like it was her thread of light in the dark of her mind. The aftermath of her graduation was… unpleasant.
She felt fragile and weak despite all the bravado she clothed herself with during her seal presentation and was sensitive to noises. The loudness of shinobi playing with explosive tags, the screams of babies, the clashes of weapons, and the splashes of the waves. It was everyday noises, ones that she had assimilated with 'home' but one bad experience and she was back to being ticked off by everything. It dragged her down the climb to recovery.
She was back to square one. Back to being Maria. Jumpy and scared little Maria.
Yukio's fists, tiny but strong, clenched her shirt as he tried to burrow his head in her chest.
"What are you doing?" She grumbled, voice laced with sleep.
Graduation messed up greatly her sleep schedule, she would get restless if she laid down for too long. Adrenaline lingered in her veins with nightmares she couldn't remember plaguing her nights.
Her brother sniffed her and Nagisa carefully went still, brows rising in surprise. Did she smell bad or…?
"It's just-" he started, big blue eyes peeking at her, "-that you smell like the sea."
He smiled. Nagisa melted. "Is it a good thing?"
"Yay! I love the sea." He nodded fervently and Nagisa delved into the feeling it procured her - a scorching warmth softening the shards of ice in her gut - before his happy chubby face turned to wonder, "Do I smell like the sea too?"
His question was innocent and the girl wasn't going to deny him, taking her time to bury her nose in his hair and taking in his scent. The salty tone of the sea with undertones of earth from when he brawled in the tall grasses, of the soap their mother used to wash their clothes, and of the fresh ink staining his hands lingered in her nose.
She exhaled slowly, inhaling again to commit the scent to memory. The last time she got a whiff, he didn't smelt like that.
"You smell more like sunshine than the sea." His brows furrowed, lips pursed in his unhappiness, "I love the sun."
Her brother did not smell like the sun. His scent was the conjunction of the sun with the sea, when the sky turned pretty with the colors of life and their city was ablaze with banters and parties. But she wasn't sure he would get it just yet.
And just so his unhappiness would fade, Nagisa sneaked a hand under his shirt. Her fingers danced over his ribs, his laughter was instantaneous. Like a worm, he wiggled in her grasp, trying to get away while giggling a storm to fight the one in her heart.
"Mercy!" He cried, face flushed and smile so wide and bright Nagisa thought it would break his face. Like a good older sister, the girl continued for two other seconds before stopping, watching as his tiny chest heaved to get the precious oxygen in.
They laid together for a few more minutes before Yukio finally whispered the question he was burning to ask since the end of her nap: "Are you okay now?"
Nagisa pondered on it, searching for the dark in her mind only to find it considerably brightened. She wasn't sure about tomorrow but after cuddling with her brother, she could affront today.
"Yeah, almost." She whispered back. She cleared her throat and just because she wanted to change the subject, she asked, "It's almost your birthday, what do you want?"
He beamed, lips stretching from ear to ear. His eyes were bright, almost painfully as he vibrated with joy.
"Dance lessons!" He shouted in her ears. Nagisa didn't flinch but she grimaced, eyes closing ever so slightly at the reminder that her baby brother was pushed on the same path as her.
He is six, she reminded herself, hoping rationality would keep her darker feelings at bay, it took me six years to graduate and I had an advantage. He won't be thrown into danger before at least being 12 years old.
At that point, Nagisa would be sixteen, a full-fledged kunoichi for three years and eligible to become a shinobi-sensei. She was sure, if she begged enough, that Yukio would be put on her team. She could keep an eye on him.
"Is that what you want to do?" She wondered and, perhaps, a part of her hoped he would deny it. She wished he would see beyond the glamorous part of being strong and a protector of the weaks to see the life of blood and gore he would live, the pains and the anguishes.
She hoped she could shield something so small and so precious from being tainted by the horror of war and pain.
"Yeah!" He agreed, nodding along to emphasize his elation, "I want to be just like dad and you!"
She felt a pang, a sudden fear laced with hope that he was doing this because of her and maybe if she dissuaded him he would listen. "It's not as great as you think it is, you will have to train beyond your body's limits and there will be bloo-"
"Nagisa." Her mother knocked on the door, easily deactivating the soundproof barrier she put. The little girl cut herself. "A shinobi passed by. Your grandfather asks for you."
The girl sighed, rising on her elbow to stare at Kazashi, taking in the apron and the slight tremble in her brows. She was unhappy to see her eldest daughter leave the home so soon after she came back all bruised and broken.
"Why?" She cocked a brow. She would meet her team at the end of the week. Hell, she didn't even get her armor yet.
"He didn't say, just that you were summoned and expected to be in his office in an hour."
Yukio gasped loudly next to her, as if to remind of the bomb that was just launched on him, sending her a betrayed look as he rolled away. "You said we would play together!" He shouted, turning his back to her.
Nagisa sighed again, hoping the puff of breath would take the dreary heaviness away, while she ruffled her messy bed hair. "Sorry Yu," she grabbed him to peck his nose, faintly amused as he wiped her kiss with a glare. When offended, Yukio would do anything to get a rise out of the cause of his offense. "Duty calls."
He whined as she planted another kiss on his back where she knew he couldn't wipe it off and left for the bathroom to get prepared.
As she passed by her mother, she leaned in her warmth with a side hug to take strength in the comfort Kazashi brought her. Nagisa didn't miss the sharp intake of air nor the way her fingers would claw in her daughter's shirt to keep her near just a little bit longer.
With a kiss on her cheek, Nagisa moved away.
There was a dog.
Nagisa blinked, staring at the animal as he lounged in the shadows of the statue representing her grandmother. The glistening, short black coat with smart rust markings caught her eyes the very moment she stepped into the garden.
The dog looked back. And just like that, Nagisa was stuck in a staring contest. Green eyes versus droopy brown eyes.
Tail wagging lazily, he regarded her as he would an insect.
She clicked her tongue. His tail slapped the dirt. She inclined her head, taking in his powerful hindquarters. He inclined his head, taking in her lean body. The chakra in her coils flickered, trying to reach him to just understand how a dog appeared in the garden of her grandfather when there was no dog before-
Ashina leisurely walked to her, the clicking of his hair beads almost soothing, as he came to a stop next to her and took in her unexpected opponent. She refused to back down for a few more seconds.
"A dog?" She finally asked, casting her eyes away and coincidentally missing his doggy smile. He won the battle but he wouldn't win the war.
"A ninken." Ashina chuckled at his granddaughter's contrite expression. "Not a fan of them?"
For a second, she grew thoughtful and stared at the horizon, at the enormous maelstroms and the blazing sun, without seeing.
Distantly, still very far but unmistakenly audible, she heard the cries of the hounds - a distinctive yelp as they found her trail again. It shot a lightning bolt through her spine and straight to her legs while pumping her heart full of adrenaline. The aches in her limbs were already forgotten as she was ready to run. The ninkens found her-
Nagisa made the conscious move of relaxing her fists she unknowingly clenched. Her joints screamed their relief.
"No, not really." She ran a finger down her thigh, where a scar that used to be there wasn't anymore. Her eyes cleared as the diaphane curtain of a past life ripped apart. She was back in Uzushio.
Ashina sent her an intrigued look, storing her reaction in his mind before changing the topic. "Rina sent her monthly news."
"All good things I hope."
Her grandfather chuckled wryly.
"A few shogi players disagreements, nobles shooting doves and fanning some never-ending fire forests over fewer tea parties. Some monkeys helping defend the trees... A few things worth noticing but nothing affecting us."
His gaze was peculiar as he stared at her, half wondering, half expecting, and searching for something.
Nagisa, on the other hand, tried her best to keep her expression neutral but the absurd won her poker face over, painting it with disbelief. Her brows creased as she tried to understand what he meant. Clearly, there was nothing subtle in this. He made it obvious it was a code.
She blinked several times, repeating that sentence in her head over and over until she memorized it.
Nobles shooting doves… Doves symbolize peace. Basically, nobles shot down some attempts at peace between clans. Now, the question was who, why and how.
Fewer tea parties, most likely. So, they hijacked the attempted peace because… it would increase the price of tea? She didn't really know what occurred during continental tea parties but the alliance would disrupt something used during tea ceremonies, something that displeased the nobles greatly. And instead of thinking about all the lives it would save, they chose to fulfill their selfishness. Typical.
"You ask to see me?" She asked after a moment of reflection and she turned her head, tilting, eyes bright with wonder. Her hair, with the sunlight hitting right, flew from her shoulder like a river of rubies.
"Yes," he nodded and the beads in hair clinked. A droplet of sweat ran down the side of his face, curving along the bony, old features of his cheek. "I have learned of your feat. Congratulation, you're making us and Uzushio proud."
She wanted to smile, she wanted to blush. She wanted to act humble when his words inflate her ego and say 'it was nothing, anyone could make it ' when clearly not anyone made it. She wanted to gush over her performance, going into great details for her battles, laughed at Tsukito's failed attempt. She wanted-
Nagisa wanted many things - a good relation with her father, to have her mother happy, to feel the warmth of a grandfather's love daily, to live happily surrounded by her loved ones, to eat many sugary treats and be the most powerful woman in the world, so powerful no one would try to hurt the people she cared about, and so many other wishes -, and many people would call her greedy.
It was rather unfortunate that reality and her emotions weren't following her heart.
Her lips parted before a shadow settled over her face. Voice low and soft, barely above a whisper, she spoke her mind. "I don't deserve it."
"Hmm?" Ashina blinked and when Nagisa didn't elaborate immediately, he invited her inside with a hand on her back, guiding her to his office.
She ran a hand through her hair, searching for her words and the best way to explain her concerns. "During the exam, I- I messed up, I was angry, I forgot I could use kawarimi and then, when they chased me, I was terrified, I-"
"It's alright to be afraid," Ashina cut in, "Fear keeps you alive. It's an in-built warning system." His voice trailed and he got lost in his thoughts for a second. "Of course, only so long as you have the right fear response."
"How?" Her voice had the undertone of desperation, similar to a child learning the world wasn't as kind as they thought.
"For some people, it's innate." Ashina adopted a bitter edge, the corners of his lips turned down as he turned to watch Uzushio's bay from his window. "They naturally know what to do. But for us Uzumaki, it's harder. Almost like a curse, we always let emotions get the better of us. Taming our temper is a long process and not everyone manages it."
Nagisa sighed and curled slightly on herself, shoulders dropping. "Is it what makes an Uzumaki an Uzumaki? Our emotions?"
His face, lightened by the orange rays of the autumn sun, warmed. His eyes were alight with mirth, hands resting easily at his sides. "Still haven't found your answer?" And because Ashina loved too much seeing his descendants suffer, he said: "It's because we live true."
Nagisa clicked her tongue in annoyance, frowning. "How do I get the proper fear response?"
She watched him ponder, stroking his beard white like a cloud and as fluffy as one before he parted his lips and shared his wiseness. "Fear in our line of work is usually laced with shock. Surprised by an enemy and loaded with unnecessary emotions, we become dull and an easy target for blades."
He went to his desk, his fingers danced over his stuff, ordering stacks of papers while moving one piece of shogi. It hovered, uncertain, over the board as Ashina wondered his next move.
Nagisa took the time to take in both the room and his words. The office smelt of old paper, ink, the saltiness of the sea and immortelles - the latter coming from the wilted bouquets hanging from the wall. There was also a pungent taste, a bit electrifying, a bit heavy on the tongue, a bit addictive. The taste of a chakra-filled room.
If she concentrated really hard, - after the initial shock of being a "sensor" while young, the novelty faded as the years passed and she lost a bit of her sharpness - she would realize it mostly came from her grandfather. And if she concentrated even harder, she would be able to describe it as neither warm nor cold, always present and sometimes rumbling. She would also feel the dots of chakra scattered around his room, a privacy seal on the desk, a cooling, purifying seal on the windows, a trap here and there.
Nagisa waited patiently, eyeing the huge globe with the moon turning around it. Next, her eyes took in the hourglass on the table, carefully carved in the gold was tiny seagulls or birds and the sand itself wasn't sand but amethyst powder and silver.
The piece fell on the board with a clack and, if Nagisa had been curious, she would have seen the piece riding the line between two cases, the master still unsure if the piece would help them or their enemies.
"You cannot erase fear but you can get used to it." He continued, eyes still fixing the board, "Delve so much in your fears you understand their inner workings, understand yourself so much you can take your reactions into account."
He came back to her, hands hidden in his sleeves. "Ultimately, by imagining all series of events happening in your minds until the unexpected becomes the expected, you will tame both your shock and your fear."
"It's a lot."
"It is." He conceded, and he looked older than his age, like a man so old his skin flew over his body like rivers over stones, like a man turned blind from staring at humanity's cruelty. A second passed, then another, and Ashina aged backward, the twinkle of tiredness gone from his eyes.
"But I didn't call you here to just talk. I'm leaving with you that precious scroll-" he pointed to his desk where a green scroll innocently laid and that Nagisa didn't see at first "-bring it to Tsukiyo from the third island, will you? You will recognize her at first glance."
Nagisa put a knee on the ground, fist hovering over her heart. "I will do as you say, Leader-sama."
Uzu no Kuni was a volcanic archipelago, with several islands following each other. The first island, Uzu, named after their spiraling architecture, was the biggest one and the rumored ancient peninsula. That was where almost all the clans lived.
The second, Ryouzu, was the island on which she passed her exam. Smaller and with a rougher environment, people tended to stand clear of it. It was mainly used for passing tests as it was harder to survive.
And the last one...
Nagisa breathed in the sea spray.
From afar, the island looked like a lion laying on its belly, but upon closer inspection-
The autumn mist drifted blue over the sea crashing against the black rocks of the third island. The girl had heard sayings that Uzushio's last island was the treasure the first two guarded - like gold buried under a mountain and guarded fiercely by dragons - and she could already see the beauty of Shishiyama, the lion's mountain island.
Whereas her place of birth, Uzu, was beautiful because of human intervention, Shishiyama had a natural beauty. The island was small with a mountain tall enough to pluck the stars from the sky and carved in a cliff of semi-precious rocks that shone like glitters as the sun breached through the mist. There were brittle blue shales, carnelians, and mica dotting the side of the sandstone cliffs with specks of purple and red here and there, coming from amethyst geodes and rubies.
Agates were washing on the beach alongside seashells and pieces of petrified woods while wooden huts of bamboo and palm trees followed the border of the beach with statues made of stones representing various men with sea animals' faces.
The clan residing here honored different gods from the Uzumaki's.
Nagisa watched as men and women looking like sharks dragged the remains of a whale. They cut the belly wide open and took the guts, emptying to plunge them in the cauldron of boiling purple mixture. Then, they would rinse them in two other mixtures - no one but the Hoshigaki were privy of the components. Finally, the guts' membranes would be turned into threads and half would be sent to Uzushio where they would be either colored and mixed with silk to create tapestries or sanitized to close wounds.
She watched as they twitched and worked clumsily, uncomfortable under her stare until someone finally had enough and just asked her: "Liking the sight of freaks like us?" His voice was rough and grumbling while he pushed locks out of his face with a sharp, clawed hand.
Someone, a woman, hit him in the back as the gills on her shoulders flared in her anger. She designated her with her chin, murmuring something close to 'she is an Uzumaki' - she wasn't the best at reading on the lips yet, too many words mouthed similarly - before the woman came to her.
"Are you lost, sweet thing?"
She was beautiful in a strange way. Her long and white hair shone in the sun, changing color with each movement. Iridescent hair. She had small, round, creamy eyes with three sets of curved facial markings under her eyes, specks of white on her cheeks, as if they were freckles, on a blue and sturdy skin.
She was surprisingly slender for a woman who lifted a dingy out of the water like it was nothing, which created dissonance with her raucous voice. A voice expected from large and burly men, or gangsters. Not a pretty Hoshigaki woman.
She gave her a small, toothy - sharp tooth - smile that made her more uncomfortable than anything. There was something dangerous in the curl of her lips, like a hunter trying to soothe his prey.
"...no?" Nagisa blinked owlishly at the woman's dark amusement before she realized that she was holding a kunai in her hand - now, when did she take it out? "At least, I don't think so."
With a twist of her wrist and a dot of chakra on her fingers, she made it disappear back into her jacket.
"You don't sound sure," she said. "Are you sure you're supposed to be on Shishiyama?"
The man threw her one long look, taking in her scarlet hair and deep green eyes with specks of gold, not unlike the wife of Uzushio's leader. "You look like your grandmother."
The woman sent him a curious look, observing her a bit more before she finally agreed with him: "Now that you said it... I can see it."
The smile Nagisa put on her face turned awkward. "Thank you… ?"
The woman nodded, like that answered her question. "You're definitely not supposed to be here, sweet thi-"
"-Actually," the girl interrupted, "I'm searching for a woman called Tsukiyo."
The woman clacked her mouth shut, eyebrows raising up. Goosebumps burst on Nagisa's skin. That… was a very loud noise. A very powerful jaw with very sharp teeth and in morbid fascination, the girl wondered if the Hoshigaki woman could break her skull with her mouth.
One strong bite… Tearing through me like Mito with her cake-
"Oh, her." There was something in her tone that Nagisa felt she shouldn't analyze. She still did. There was the undertone of nostalgia, of evenings spent contemplating the moon and the sharpness of a knife tearing through a heart. "You're here for Tsukiyo."
Then, the dreamy look on her face faded to strangely defensive. "Why?"
The changes on her face were almost imperceptible, lips quivering down as her eyes grew colder. It was all in her chakra. It snapped next to her ear, inflating and deflating, and coiled around her throat. One wrong move and it would tear her apart.
"Fuyu." Someone warned. Fuyu's gills flared again, side-eyeing them with a glare before concentrating back on her.
"A-a scroll." Nagisa choked out, attempting to appear unbothered but her body moved without her consent. She tensed and bent her knees, positioning herself to defend. Don't shoot the messenger.
She knew she shouldn't react as it was the most blatant way of showing her fear, but it was too strong of an instinct, one ingrained in her since Before. It would take time to make sure her body wouldn't react on its own.
Once again, she consciously relaxed her body while Fuyu paused. She seemed to want to add something else but thought otherwise at the last second.
"Hmm, you're his messenger then." She huffed, "Very well. Pass the message and leave. Tsuki doesn't need to be bothered."
She turned her back, leaving with a rainbow in her hair and an unhappy expression on her face. And most importantly, without telling her where she could find Tsukiyo.
Hmm. Rough lady.
"Tsukiyo-san lives at the top of the mountain." An older Hoshigaki woman said, pointing toward stairs Nagisa could have easily missed as they were hidden behind palm trees and bushes. "Just go up Heaven's steps to the lion's head. Good luck."
"Thanks," Nagisa smiled that awkward smile of hers - corners curling, cheeks stiff and eyes crying for help - before muttering darkly to herself, "I will need it."
Fucking stairs… What have I done to my grandfather to be punished like this?
Sweat dribbled down the side of Nagisa's face as she ran up two steps at a time. She had pushed off the first layer of her sort-of kimono, tied it around her hips and rolled the sleeves of her underlayer up to her elbows.
She kept a steady pace despite her legs burning for a rest, tirelessly pumping chakra through them to go just a bit higher just a bit faster. Never looking back, just looking forward. When the clouds hid the sun, Nagisa could see the end of the stairs getting closer with each second. It wasn't fast enough.
If only he told me earlier, I would have-
She would have done what? Now, that was an excellent question. Nagisa, for as much as being his granddaughter benefited her, was nothing. She held no real power and she would keep doing so for as long as she wasn't considered to be worthy by some very specific people - namely the clan's head or the Uzumaki council.
"Shi-" Nagisa's foot hit a rock as it finally reached the promised ground. She stumbled for a bit, arms shooting out widely around her as she awkwardly danced around to find her balance.
She straightened, free of scrapes or pain.
FINALLY- Oh whoa.
The wind whistled past her ears, pushing hair out of her eyes and flicking her braid back. Twin stone pillars half-eaten by vines blooming into colorful flowers rose up in the sky, while long boards of red, black and golden arched above them, bridging the two sides. An old fountain, half-cracked and perpetually pouring out its content down the side of the mountain, watered the vines.
Nagisa sent a glance down.
Far below her, the endless blue seemed to stretch on, glittering with the bright sun above them. Closer, but still far below, the forest she had to pass by came alive with the wind as leaves were tugged free. The wind and the leaves danced on the beaten trail, like lovers with long dresses waltzing. Truthfully, the trees looked like broccolis from where she was.
From up there, everything was so tiny, insignificant.
A crow cawed, she swiftly turned on her feet, greedily taking in the sight offered to her.
The shrine was big, the size of a small mansion, and carved and painted with a tremendous amount of seals. Temperature, the flow of the fountain, security, strange lines directing the flow of chakra toward the middle of the mansion, barriers seals designed to keep the ground moist. Seals to keep the outside from coming in and seals to keep the inside from leaving. She could control everything with a snap of her fingers.
Her eyes traveled the curves of the windows and the lines of the structure, watched as benediction's papers fluttered around, pinned to a rough cord until they settled on her.
Nagisa raised a brow.
It was the first time she saw an old woman dressed so lavishly and with bright colors that were usually worn by the younger folks. The girl couldn't be awed by her confidence.
The old woman's skin was a deep shade of walnut where black freckles of old age bloomed over the bridge of her nose and the curve of her shoulders. The fine dress of mint silk popped out from the darker green of the garden surrounding her. Her black afro was slicked back in a ponytail, frizzled with silver, and crowned with gold.
Her clothes weren't made for outside activities, much less gardening as the bands of gold around her fingers and the upper arms bracelets were caked with dirt. The color scheme accentuated the eerie feeling her eyes gave her. Cloudy white eyes with no pupil that were too expressive and too knowing.
She, now, understood her grandfather's small humorless laugh.
Tsukiyo. 月夜. Moonlight.
"So?" The old woman curled a brow, unimpressed, as she leaned on one leg. Her dress slit open to reveal a deeply scarred leg, the prerogative of the shinobi. Tsukiyo felt like a pain already and Nagisa couldn't wait to bolt right out of there, stairs be damned. "Down with your inspection? Finally ready to explain yourself for interrupting so callously?"
A pause.
"I- what?" Nagisa blinked and flushed at being caught off guard. "Forgive me. My name is Nagisa Uzumaki, granddaughter of Ashina-"
The woman clicked her tongue and crossed her arms, smearing dirt all over her clothes. "Cut the crap. I didn't ask for your lineage. Get to the good part."
Rolling her shoulders to ease the tension, the redhead girl got to the good part. "Tsukiyo-san, I was tasked with bringing you the scroll."
"A scroll? Only a scroll?" Nagisa nodded before she verbally answered at the woman's lack of reaction.
Her response didn't please Tsukiyo as she spat: "I'm blind, child."
Well, you don't seem like it. Nagisa thought, watching as the old woman weaved between the plants to the stairs, dodged the ivy's branches eating that side of the shrine, and made her way inside. "What use would I have with a scroll?"
With a tilt of her chin, she invited the girl to follow her.
To shove it up your ass to keep company to the stick already there. Nagisa flushed a deeper shade of red, embarrassment meshed with defensive anger but thankfully, she kept her mouth close.
After a few other twists inside the temple, the old woman brought her to an inner garden where laid at the very center of it a massive tree covered in spiderwebs. Nagisa stopped at the threshold, taking in the sight, the scent and the sound.
A light breeze ruffled through the mini bamboo forest, dispersing the white smoke flowing from a censer of hammered bronze like water. It smelt of thyme and something she couldn't quite name. The song of the wind chime meshed with the rhythmic tic-tac of the Shishi Odoshi fountain and the crunch of her bare feet against the grass as she sauntered toward a couch protected by the end of the patio's roof.
A dragonfly landed on a half-closed lily pad, fluttering away when the unnecessary big back of a koi fish troubled the fragility of the pond's surface.
"There is nothing written on it." Tsukiyo continued from her seat, popping in her mouth an olive that appeared out of nowhere. "I thread only with news."
Her eyes, despite being unseeing, appeared to have gazed upon the forbidden and reached enlightenment. So old and wise and tired. And twinkling with something that Nagisa couldn't name. Perhaps, if the older woman was seeing, the redhead girl wouldn't have felt so awkward and defensive.
A strong breeze rattled the trees, their leaves, and the spider webs.
The woman tilted her head in wonder, reaching out to the leaf that twirled down from the spider web it was stuck on. She rubbed her fingers on it, slowly, methodically shredding it apart. Finally, she shook herself out of her stupor. "What is the color of the scroll?"
"Hmm, green." Then, Nagisa blinked once, twice, three times before the possibility that Tsukiyo didn't know colors came to her mind. "Green is… hmm, the grass when it feels smooth and fresh, the smell of the pine trees and-"
"I know what green is." The woman cut harshly and Nagisa closed her mouth with a clack, unable to stop her throat from knotting. She huffed, bringing her hand to her head before adding, "Though it had to be the most poetic way someone tried to describe colors to me."
A soothing stroke after a vicious burn made it easier to swallow but for Nagisa, whose pride was slowly becoming more and more prominent, it made her want to scream.
Tsukiyo shook her hand, slapping a wasp away as easily as she changed the subject.
"So…" Elbow on her knee, she leaned forward to watch her above her knuckles. "What is happening outside of Uzushio?"
The girl squinted, blinked, and pinched her lips as she thought of the best way to proceed from there.
She was being tested. It was impossible that her grandfather plainly revealed a code and her being quizzed about it barely an hour later was a coincidence. The remaining question was: what was she quizzed about? Was it her capacity of keeping secrecy or her capacity of understanding the code?
Her first instinct was to say the former but logic told her the latter. They were already going to train her to keep secrets under torture.
"There is… unrest." Nagisa started, taking a leap of faith. "Nobles are destroying attempts of peace and fanning- hmm, some fire-forests while some monkeys defend it? All because of the prices of tea? Also, there are a few… disagreements among shogi players. Ultimately, a few things are worth noticing but nothing affecting us."
She popped another olive in her mouth, looking unsatisfied. "Hmmm… What exactly did he say?"
Dutifully, Nagisa answered. "A few shogi players disagreements, nobles shooting doves and fanning some never-ending fire forests over fewer tea parties. Some monkeys help defend the trees… A few things worth noticing but nothing affecting us."
Tsukiyo hummed under her breath, scratching the side of her head before she broke into a smile full of irony.
"Do you know what it means?"
Tsukiyo blinked, shaken out of her wry amusement before she stared long and hard and judged. Finally, she opened her lips and promptly ignored her question. "What about Uzushio?"
Nagisa held more reserves, mulling on her words and what she would say to her. "What kind of… clearance do you have?"
A dark brow cocked high as Tsukiyo arched her head to the side where the sun ignited her tiara of gold. She said with a deadpan expression: "I'm on a scroll-exchanging relationship with the man akin to a Daimyo on this island. What kind of clearance do you think I have?"
The girl answered nothing. She stared, long and hard, just like she did, and analyzed her. She didn't know much about her, if anything, but she pointed out her special relationship and Ashina wouldn't have thrown her head first in danger without, at least, warning her. She hoped so. And more importantly-
She is a blind woman living away from everyone.
"Well, there is unrest too." A different kind, though. "There is a lot of gossip about the barrier unit and people are starting to move."
She saw it happening, the same groups of people going to the same bars or places when a few months before they barely threw a glance at each other. But when she asked her mother, Kazashi shushed her concerns, confirming to her that it was a known phenomenon. The girl didn't investigate further.
Tsukiyo leaned back, spreading her arms over the back of the couch. "For what reasons? What else?"
"People complained about the lack of certain goods in our boats."
"That's all? That's meager."
A breeze kissed her face, all the wind chimes came alive around her, singing their different tunes together and for some reason, it irritated Nagisa.
It sounded like tiny voices laughing at her.
She frowned, crossing her arms. "That's everything I know."
The lilt in her voice was transparent enough, expressing her real words: 'What are you going to do about it?'
"That's not enough." Tsukiyo shook her head. "I need more information."
The tree came alive, leaves fluttering as spiders showed themselves, hanging from their strings like small, hairy, and with too many legs and eyes Christmas balls. Nagisa kept an eye on them and, as they didn't move further, turned her full attention back on the older woman.
"Why don't you go and gather it yourself then?" Nagisa raised her chin in challenge, pushing her chest out like a tiny peacock trying to intimidate a tiger, I'm only a messenger.
Tsukiyo huffed. Her eyes creased with her frown before she bloomed into a smile so sweet and so sugary it turned poisonous.
"Because from up there I can't see people's stupidity." A pause. She stretched like a cat, fingers clawing at nothing and arched back before she settled back into her former position. "Say what, I'm willing to bargain."
When the redhead didn't make any offended noise, Tsukiyo explained her proposal. "You don't understand the message you passed on to me and I need more information."
Nagisa crinkled her nose and arched her brows. It was fair. At least, it sounded fair and she couldn't spot the downside. She crossed her arms. It was probably more work for her than for Tsukiyo but she could always dangle the information over her head if Nagisa wasn't satisfied.
"So," Nagisa started, searching her words to rephrase the sentence, "An info for an info. You explain to me, in great detail, what my grandfather's message means and I get you your info."
"Yes." The woman nodded.
The girl frowned. "How do I know you won't lie?"
Tsukiyo, for lack of better words, snorted. She took in a breath that hitched in her throat and her lips curled up. "Has anyone told you that you're too suspicious?"
Amused, Nagisa realized, Tsukiyo was entertained by her reactions. It made her all the more suspicious. Innocent people would feel affronted, not amused.
"Am I?"
She tilted her head, leaning her cheek on her fist. "Some people would say that you're wise, but for others, you are blind-"
Nagisa clenched her fists and reigned in her temper, in the wild roaring of her blood in her ears. She was still on a mission, she couldn't act carelessly. No matter how good punching her in the face would feel.
"-but if you're that scared, I'm willing to do a blood seal. You can even keep it with you."
She took in a sharp breath as her eyes widened at her proposition. Tsukiyo's lips twisted up into a confident smirk.
Blood seals were a rather big deal. Delving in the gray area between Juuin and Fuuin sealing practices, they were neither common nor particularly legal. And for something taking its roots in the Juuin sealing, they were actually easy to craft - which made them particularly dangerous.
Nagisa, because she spent so much time in the library to escape having awkward interactions with children, had stumbled upon them and immediately thought she would never ever do them.
As the name inferred, they were written with the blood of both parties. Each member would write their obligations with their blood - in her case, Nagisa would write 'Gathering Asked Information' in her blood while Tsukiyo would go for 'Explaining Meaning Asked Sentence'. Once each party had laid their obligations, they would mix their blood to write the punishment. For example, if both Nagisa and Tsukiyo went into hardcore mode, they could write 'Death' and one would drop dead should they fail to uphold their obligations.
Keeping a blood seal was a show of trust. It meant that Nagisa could change her terms whenever she wanted but Tsukiyo would always be stuck fulfilling her end of the contract.
"It won't be needed. I appreciate your show of goodwill." Nagisa faked a smile, a drop of sweat running down her neck. "I accept."
Tsukiyo looked like a cat that got the cream and the bird. "Let's start with something easy: find out which wares sold the most at the Capital."
It would be easy, right?
To be continued...?
There we are. The end of the chapter.
Your thoughts about it? More worldbuilding! Thoughts about Tsukiyo and her grandfather? Nagisa is being tested and the code is not necessarily the hardest but it was to introduce it to her. We're going to delve more into Uzushio's problems, the Yohei, politics (though, I really suck at that) and the Uzumaki's past!
For information: Nagisa is 10, Miru is turning 12 and Mito is 9 while Yukio is 5, turning 6 soon.
See ya, take care of yourself and your loved ones!
xoxo