Summary: "Do you need a ferryman, Lady Sakura?" [MadaSaku – Mr. Sunshine-inspired AU]
A/N: so, i decided to continue this from my main acc (cannot-be-cyn) in tumblr. this is not a Mr. Sunshine AU, but an inspired one. feel free to send asks about this fic.
It was a cold, wet night in the Capital of Hi no Kuni. The trees and store signs swayed and danced with the harsh wind as rain pelted hard, down the cemented ground of the city's main street.
Under such weather, a lone black cloaked figure traversed. A pale and slender hand raised from the cloak to secure the hood above their head, preventing anyone to see their face nor hair as they rounded the corner to an alleyway. The stranger stopped in front of the backdoor of a private apothecary owned by the Senju Clan, one of the five noble clans in the country.
Two soft knocks and a loud one at the end later, the backdoor opened and the cloaked stranger entered the apothecary without prompting before the wooden door quickly shut closed.
"Shizune-san," The stranger greeted as they removed their heavy and wet cloak. "Is Lady Sakura here?"
"Tenten-sama, no one followed you here, right?" Shizune asked as she anxiously hugged her pet pig close to her chest while peeking from the blinded window of the shop, facing the main street.
"I'm not sloppy, Shizune-san. Besides, this is an apothecary. If anyone asked, I'm here to pick up my ordered salve for my calloused hands." Tenten replied, chuckling as she dried herself with a hand towel.
Shizune warily looked away from the window to glance at Tenten as the brown-haired young woman left her black cloak on the dusty wooden chair.
"I'll prepare your salve." Shizune slowly and softly said before she solemnly added, "She's upstairs."
Tenten nodded before walking towards the wooden stairs. When she reached the second floor of the shop, brown eyes widened in shock when she saw the noble young woman's state. She's pale and sweaty while her pink hair was sticking to her neck and pretty face, which was scrunched in pain as she tried to stitch her own wound.
"Sakura!" Tenten gasped as she quickly kneeled beside her on the bloodied futon.
"Tenten, the weapons? Are they ready?" Sakura hissed before she shoved a white cloth in her mouth to stop herself from biting her own lips or worst, her tongue.
"You're in no state to worry about that!" Tenten quietly reprimanded her, helping the young woman in grinding the herbs needed to prevent the infection setting in once she finished stitching her wound.
Sakura shook her head as she scowled at the older brown-haired woman in her pain and agony. Then, she spat the white cloth from her mouth.
"N-no," Sakura panted while tying the knot in her wound. "The plan is more important. You know that."
Tenten sighed as she reached for the medical pad to put the grinded herb paste, "I don't know if it's a good thing I'm the one who found you in this state and not Ino…"
Sakura had the gall to smirk at that statement because they both knew what the blonde Yamanaka will do. The brown-haired older woman rolled her eyes as she placed the pad above the stitched wound.
"So, the weapons? Are they ready?" Sakura repeated while wounding a roll of bandage around her lower thigh.
"It's not enough to supply the Rebel Army." Tenten grimly replied. "We need to contact Shikamaru and the others, to see if we could negotiate a deal in Sora-ku."
"Sora-ku? Isn't that the Uchiha Clan's territory?" Sakura perked up at that as she tied the bandage, not tightly to cut off blood.
"Oh. I remember… the Senju and the Uchiha aren't exactly on friendly terms, right?" Tenten grimaced.
Sakura nodded as she laid on the futon after popping an antibiotic pill she made in her mouth.
"But I know someone from that clan who's staying in the Capital right now, and I could discuss this matter with Hashirama-oji-sama too." Sakura sleepily muttered while looking up at her dear friend. "Don't worry, Hime-sama…"
Tenten couldn't help the tears from forming in her brown eyes. She shut her eyes and bit her lips to stop herself from crying when she heard her friend address her of her stripped title.
"…the Senju Clan are still loyal to the Sarutobi." The pink-haired young woman added before sleep took her.
The Sarutobi Dynasty led Hi no Kuni for almost a century until sixteen years ago when the then Emperor, Sarutobi Hiruzen, suddenly died and no one in the main royal family claimed the throne. The country was left vulnerable without its ruler. Fearing the invasion from the surrounding nations of Hi no Kuni, Shimura Danzo, husband of the Emperor's young sister, stepped in to claim the abandoned throne and ceased the beginning of chaos and panic in the land.
A year later, the first in line ruler of the new royal family launched a war campaign to "avenge" the former Emperor's death, accusing Tsuchi no Kuni of assassinating Emperor Hiruzen. Old and young able men from the various clans and families in the country were sent to the borders to fight. To fund and sustain the war campaigns, yearly tributes from the five nobles and major wealthy clans were decreed.
On the fourth day of month Momiji that year, the Envoy of Shimura arrived in the Uchiha Clan compound in Sora-ku. He brought with him a news that will change the tunes of the current blowing winds in the land and whether if it's a good or bad change, is a matter of perspective to those involve and will be involved.
Although, the Uchiha Clan's council members begged to differ once the news left the Envoy's mouth.
"Will you care to repeat that?" Uchiha Izuna asked the Envoy of the royal family as he reached for the sword beside his zabuton with a visible scowl on his aristocratic and handsome face.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Fugaku gripped the teacup near his lips. His shoulder, tensing at the sudden pressure by the Emperor placed in their clan. The older cousin of the Uchiha Clan Head and Heir slightly frowned, briefly glancing at the Clan Head to gauge his reaction in the face of blatant insult and rising tension in the meeting room of the clan.
Uchiha Madara remained stoic with a blank expression on his face, unlike his hot-tempered younger brother. Although, Fugaku knew better: he noticed the evidence of Madara's anger in his narrowing eyes and the tightness at the corner of his lips.
"Danzo-sama decreed an increase to the yearly tribute and territory tax of the Uchiha Clan." The Envoy replied with a faux beseeching smile, none the wiser to the danger he exposed himself into.
"You dare!" The current Clan Heir roared as he finally unsheathed his sword.
"Izuna."
Madara calmly called his younger brother, preventing him from committing treason by decapitating the glorified gopher of the Shimura. Then, he addressed the terrified Envoy in front of the Uchiha Council.
"The Uchiha Clan will adhere to the territory tax as it is expected from our Clan, but the increase in the yearly tribute will be impossible this year."
"But Danzo-sama ordered-"
Fugaku interrupted and explained the present situation, "The storm last month hit our territory the hardest and it affected our crops and livestock. We have the requested tribute from last year to be sent with you in the Capital, but increasing the amount is just not possible this year."
"That's right! How are we going to feed ourselves in the coming winter if we send you more!?" Uchiha Yashiro growled under his breath, glaring at the Envoy.
The Envoy of the Shimura Family was about to complain and insist the order of their Emperor is absolute, but the look from the Clan Head stopped him and made him gulped loudly.
"You understand the state we're in, do you?" Madara simply said as he raised his teacup to his lips and drank the cold tea.
It wasn't a threat, but it might as well be.
so, thoughts?
~LittlemissLazy