Chapter 148
The Unraveling Storm: A Plea Heard, an Offer Declined!
"I'll give you one chance to go back inside on your own."
"Do- don't try to stop me."
The rain possessed a remorseless chill. As remorseless as those sapphire eyes gazing into his soul.
"Go back inside, Rokusuke."
"No! I won't!"
She didn't understand. No one did. They had given up on Kanpachi, but he wouldn't. He couldn't.
Quickly, he turned on his heel and made to dash off. This was his chance. This time, he promised, this time things would end differently.
He went nowhere. Like a nightmarish ghoul emerging from the shadows, something snatched him by his collar and anchored him to one spot; their unpleasant grip was too tight to break free of, their sudden appearance left him shaken.
When he turned to see who was responsible, a paralytic shock sank its claws into his trembling body.
Standing before him was the unblinking, unsmiling face of a cat, its furless face constructed of porcelain and bearing three distinct red stripes.
To his utter horror the cat's head was on a human body.
"I'm sorry."
Rokusuke awoke with a startled cry.
No sooner did the cry leave his mouth did he feel a large, warm hand suddenly cover his lips. It muffled his subsequent terrified scream.
"Quiet, Rokusuke!" Hachidai hissed in a harsh whisper.
The jarring command, not to mention the hand pressed roughly against his lips, set fire to his blood. He felt panic overcome his senses. Alongside it, a flare of indignation exploded, unleashing a terrible and unpleasant heat throughout his body.
Everyone was treating him horribly. All he had wanted to do was save Kanpachi, but they kept standing in his way. They scolded him like a child. Lectured him. Made him waste precious time. And now Kanpachi was…
Suddenly nothing seemed to matter. Nothing except tearing Hachidai's hand from his mouth so he could scream at every last one of them. He wanted to shout and howl until all this fire in his body was burning them instead. Until they felt this awful and horrible feeling suffered.
The urge to scream, the compulsion to unleash all of this anger, was so powerful he could feel himself trembling.
So the young miner prepared to rip Hachidai's hand from his mouth. Yet his arms refused to budge.
It took him a moment to realize they were bound behind his back, and then another to understand attempts to move them only intensified the pinch biting at his shoulders. So he tried to stand, to kick, to thrash, but his legs were also bound together.
He was immobilized, forced to lay on his side on a hard wooden floor.
They're treating me like a bandit!
The desperate panic and indignation he felt twisted into rage.
With every ounce of his might, Rokusuke began to flop and squirm in a flustered fury that mimicked a dying fish flopping on dry land, ignoring the biting pinch in his shoulders, screaming to the highest of heavens and lowest of hells against Hachidai's hand.
Tears stung his eyes. They burned as hot as the rage burning beneath his skin.
In a matter of seconds Rokusuke's face was flushed red. His scalp began to itch beneath his bandana. His body reacted to the burgeoning heat with perspiration, naturally. He could feel his skin growing damp.
Rage and sorrow swept a thick haze over his vision. He couldn't see the panicked expressions Hachidai and Sangorō wore. He couldn't feel their palpable fear. He felt nothing except the twisting wildfire burning him up from the inside.
When they both hissed and whispered and gesticulated for him to stay silent, Rokusuke only tried to grow louder and thrash harder. Anything to break free. Anything to scream and set free all of this rage and sorrow welling up inside his heart.
"Have you gone mad? You need to stay quiet or we're dead!" Hachidai hissed.
Kanpachi! You were supposed to be his friend—our friend! He's going to die because of you! He screamed it hysterically against Hachidai's hand.
It was little more than an indistinct, wordless series of wailing murmurs.
"Rokusuke, please. There are Kurosuki Family members here," Sangorō made his plea in a whisper.
His eyes, wet and bloodshot, flashed. I don't care. I don't. I was trying to save Kanpachi. That was all I cared about. If you're going to stop me, then…
Slowly, Rokusuke stopped squirming. He stopped screaming altogether and lowered his brooding gaze to the wood floor.
Without Kanpachi, I don't want to…
He felt Hachidai's hand begin to relax. He felt his palm begin to leave his lips, and he knew it was finally time. He knew his moment had come. So Rokusuke inhaled a deep breath and…
A small, scarred hand suddenly slipped beneath Hachidai's and clapped over his lips, pressing roughly against them, and thwarting his scream just as he let it loose.
Bewilderment struck the miner first. So much so even the muffled sound of his scream twisted into a wordless noise of confusion.
No… He felt Kanpachi slip farther away. No, no, no. I was about to… I was ready to… And then… Wait, that small hand. Following the hand up, the sight of lapis blue set his heart on fire. That sleeve!
Indignant, Rokusuke lifted his glistening, bloodshot gaze to see the culprit with his own eyes, to see her true colors and her true heart instead of the lies she'd spun before. All while he lay there on his side, head turned at an awkward and uncomfortable angle, screaming and thrashing at the one person he thought would understand.
The one girl who stopped him from following after Kanpachi.
Hachidai and Sangorō both looked like they'd found him and Kanpachi naked in the same bunkbed. Horrified, bewildered, with hints of vexation and hurt for the attempted betrayal.
Rokusuke didn't bother to acknowledge them. His brooding and bitter glare was fixated on Amaririsu Yūhi, who was stretching over his bound form in an act of defiance.
She met his gaze unflinchingly. Disappointment was evident in her solitary eye, but she did not appear surprised.
No. She suspected he'd try this.
You! He screamed with his eyes and his voice. You were supposed to understand! You're supposed to be like me, but you're not! So carefree, so unashamed, you have no idea what its like!
"Calm down," she commanded.
Her voice was quiet, naturally. Yet, in that moment, as with the Mist shinobi before, when Amaririsu spoke she ceased to be the smallest person in the room. Every word carried the power, poise and dignity of a Queen.
"Breathe," she commanded of him. "I understand what you're feeling, believe me."
You don't understand anything I feel! He thrashed against his binds and the floor.
Her disappointed and powerful gaze did not leave him. She kept her small hand pressed tightly over his lips.
"You're emotional. I understand. But you need to think this through. Is this what Kanpachi would want? Would he want you to get your friends killed? Would he want you to die?"
Shut up! Shut! Up!
"No, he wouldn't, would he? He'd want you—all of you—to live. Isn't that why he was organizing everyone to get rid of the Kurosuki Family? Kanpachi wanted everyone to be able to work without the fear of being buried alive. He wanted you to live, Rokusuke."
Why won't you shut up? The tears in his eyes burned horribly.
Amaririsu held him beneath her overwhelming gaze.
"Hachidai and Sangorō want to live. I think deep down, in time, you'll realize you do, too. But I can't trust you to stay quiet. Not when you are willing to selfishly throw everyone's lives away. I'm sorry, but you'll have to go back to sleep. You can be angry with me later."
His world went black again.
He didn't even feel the chop.
"He- here are you or- orders," Amari said.
She slipped between seats to set two plates in front of the customers before running back to the kitchen counter to grab two more to deliver.
By the time she returned all five of the Kurosuki Family members were making faces at the plates of rice and black, bubbling curry sauce.
Some merely cocked an eyebrow up, smiling wryly; they knew they had only themselves to blame for ordering the hottest sauce the shop could produce. Some recoiled back in disgust, uncertain if what they were seeing was curry sauce or tar poured over their meals.
"Excuse me, waitress," a dark-haired man spoke up.
Frankly, it startled her. His voice—Shuji, she recalled his name—sounded closer to a grizzly bear than a human.
Dressed in fur clothes, Shuji was everything she imagined a mountain man would be—tall, strongly built, and wielding an impressively bushy beard, which hung to the center of his chest.
His expression was blank, but his voice was cautious.
"What did you say this dish was called?" he asked.
"It's th- the signature dish of ou- our shop. The Curry of Life," she replied in a meek, almost trembling voice as she set the final dish before one of the only two women at the table. "Yo- you asked for the spiciest di- dish—"
As soon as the plate was set, the woman snatched her at the wrist—her left wrist. Amari felt her heart stop, then skip.
Internally, bewilderment passed in an instant; shinobi had to make split-second decisions on a battlefield, and this was just another kind of battlefield. Sirens and warning bells awoke the shinobi she had carefully hidden from her slumber to do exactly that.
By fortunes favor, the wall lamp cast her Shadow across the whole table, turning a small and meek girl into a towering, immovable giant.
Although they could not see it, the shadow hidden beneath clutched the hilt of her sword.
It would only take one swing.
Outwardly, Amari showed no signs of a shinobi. Startled, tugged against her will, she cried out,
"Eep!"
She landed on her back in the woman's lap. Her crossed legs cradled the young girl's adolescent body, and her bony knee all but knocked the wind out of her.
It was obvious the woman was at least ten years her senior, if not more, by her womanly physique. She had hair like drizzling honey, cut unevenly around chin-length, and prominent cheekbones.
The woman—Kari—clutched her left hand in a steel grip. Her dark eyes scrutinized the scars. They followed them down her wrist, her forearm, gently sliding the sleeve to her elbow to see how far they went, how many there were, and what caused them.
Amari didn't miss how Kari's eyes narrowed. The collection was expanding higher and higher, further up her arm, becoming denser than a overgrown briar patch.
In the moment, Amari had no way to know what Miss Anbu was thinking. She couldn't hear her silent, sharp intake of air. She couldn't know it was the first time she'd seen the full extent of her scars; since they first met she'd worn long sleeves that hid the damage.
She couldn't know that Miss Anbu, like Kari, realized in a single glance the source of the wounds, and how they climbed the entire length of her arm.
She couldn't know the guilt or the anguish Yūgao felt.
Amari was too busy cursing inwardly at the turn of events. She did everything she could to keep her scars hidden. It hadn't been enough, though. Kari had spotted them, and, like any vigilant shinobi, was evaluating a potential threat.
It took effort to maintain the shy waitress act. Amari managed it, somehow. She felt her face flushing.
"Um, ex- excuse me? Wha- what are you—"
"These scars were caused by Lightning Nature ninjutsu," Kari stated.
Crap, the kunoichi beneath the façade cursed.
Her dark gaze fell onto Amari. "How did a sweet and innocent waitress like you get them?"
The atmosphere shifted in an instant. Kari's tone said it all. She was beginning to wonder if the shy and meek waitress was as sweet and innocent as she appeared.
Amari didn't want that. She wanted her barbed fishhook deep in their flesh. She wanted to pull them in whatever direction she liked regardless of how hard they struggled, and she knew exactly how to accomplish that.
At that moment, the Kurosuki Family witnessed a young and shy girl's eye go glassy, brimming with unshed tears as it lowered away from her arm, away from all of them, in what they perceived as shame.
In the dreadful silence, where it appeared their shy waitress was on the verge of spontaneously bursting into sobs, they concocted their own stories for the orphan girl. Some worse than others, but all equally awful.
For in this shinobi world evil existed. And orphans were easy victims.
Without a word she drove the barbed hook deep into their cheeks and reeled them all in.
"Forget I asked," Kari said quietly, releasing Amari's wrist but placing one hand protectively over her abdomen.
The other hand threaded into her hair, gentle despite its callouses, maternal despite her harshness. Playing her role, Amari turned into the woman and sniffled.
"Ryoichi, Touya, lay another hand on her and I'll cut your balls off," Kari warned.
Ryoichi and Touya were the youngest of the five. Ryoichi was a weedy blond full of life and energy. Touya, by comparison, was sinewy, taller, and had shoulder length icy-blue, nearly white, hair.
Amari estimated they were both anywhere between three and seven years her senior.
She also estimated both had vile intentions for her, if the opportunity to act presented itself; they went the distance in their attempts to embarrass or otherwise fluster her.
And they'd been leering at her incessantly, undressing her with their eyes every chance they could. She could see it every time they leered at her figure. She had felt their eyes following her around the room, had heard plenty of crude comments regarding her body, and dares to pinch or otherwise grope her.
Even now she could feel their eyes on her, drinking in the minimal curves of her still maturing physique.
It was only a short time ago Touya knocked her over by placing his hand on her thigh, which served two purposes, as far as she could tell.
First, it allowed him the chance to topple the young girl and get his comrades to laugh boisterously. Second, he'd taken it as an opportunity to squeeze and grope her thigh.
Ryoichi had been positively jealous ever since. He was waiting for a chance of his own, a chance that, with luck and the support of Kari, would never come.
"C'mon, we don't mean nothin' by it," Touya brushed off her warning. "Just tryin' to liven up the place."
"Think I was born yesterday?" Kari hissed. "Go ahead and tell your jokes. Embarrass the kid. We've had a good laugh. But don't touch her."
"What are you? Her mother all of the sudden?" Ryoichi scoffed.
"Enough," Shuji's penetrating grizzly bear voice commanded. "The Boss said not to trouble this restaurant or its people. I've indulged your games; Kari said it best, your jokes have entertained us, and that's all we're after. Merriment. Satisfaction. Laughter."
"I can think of a better way for all three of those," Ryoichi said, eyes leering at the young girl.
Amari stiffened in Kari's lap. She felt the woman's entire body thrum with a growl.
"I know a better way for all three of those, too," Botan, the other woman, said venomously. "I say we lock ya both in a coffin, just like that other milksop, and practice a li'l dagger throwin' on you li'l boys. Whichever one of ya bleeds first gets saddled and ridden like a horse around camp. The other gets their bare ass caned a hundred times. How's that sound?"
Botan was around the same age as Kari, though shorter and more lithe when compared to Kari. She had a crooked nose, broken in some previous brawl, and apparently a mind for cruel and unusual punishments.
"How is any of that fair!" Ryoichi sputtered.
Botan snatched him by the ear. "You get what you give to others," she hissed. "You want to assault and humiliate the girl, then we'll assault and humiliate you."
"Gah! Let go, you country bumpkin!"
"Country bumpkin? Well, hoowee," she mocked, "how 'bout I get my riding crop and spurs and saddle you up, li'l pony."
"Dammit! Stop, that hurts!"
"Ahh, listen to ya squeal! My mistake, li'l pony, I shoulda known better. You're a li'l pig, ain't ya? C'mon. C'mon. Squeal for Mama."
"Let him go, Botan," Shuji ordered calmly.
"Fine. What 'bout Touya? Can I make him squeal now?"
"I don't get why you're making such a big deal about this," Touya rolled his eyes. "It's just a little fun. She'd probably even like it a little."
Thud!
The plates clattered harshly against the table. Then a tense silence reigned. Shuji's fist, like a gavel, commanded order and silence, and not a single soul went against his command.
It told Amari outbursts from him were rare.
"Were the Boss to hear any of this, he would be overwhelmed by disappointment," Shuji said after a moment. "In his disappointment, his heart would break. Do you understand, Ryoichi? Touya?"
No one made a sound.
"His heart would be broken. Overwhelmed with sorrow, he would begin to grieve the precious memory of you he holds most dear. You would be dead to this Family, and so there would only be one remedy left to combat the heartbreak and grief you foisted onto him. Only through a funeral could he grieve properly."
In the silence, Amari timidly clutched her fingers into Kari's blouse and pressed her forehead against her abdomen. Kari continued to thread her fingers through her hair, massaging her scalp.
Tell me more about your Boss, the kunoichi thought.
"You two are still young. You are new to this Family," Shuji said. "You have so much more to learn concerning who we are and what we stand for. Freedom is essential, of course. It is a privilege we've been granted by this Family.
"However, that freedom requires responsibility. From all of us. In order to protect this Family and our freedom we cannot debase ourselves by chasing every primal impulse. Especially," she sensed his narrowed eyes by the strictness of his voice, "an impulse like that.
"The Boss and Mikki do not tolerate urges like yours. Neither do I. It endangers all of us. It degrades this Family. It spits in the faces of the Boss and Mikki, who have fought, bled and sacrificed for each of us."
"What's the big deal? She's, what? Three years younger than us? Four?" Touya sounded annoyed.
"It's not about age, you imbecile!" Kari growled.
"Think she'll squeal to the authorities? She lives in a backwater Nation in the middle of nowhere. Who she going to tell? She can barely speak to us."
Amari sensed Shuji loud crack of a palm against flesh broke through the silent curry shop like a shattering plate.
"Ow! What the hell, Shuji?"
"You want to be treated like an adult? Want to drink like an adult? Then you better start acting like one, too," Shuji reprimanded.
"Bastard! I think my mouth is bleeding."
"Next time it'll be your nose," warned the adult. "This Family and its safety comes first. I don't care how young or old this girl is. You could've been leering at the Granny."
"Ugh! C'mon! That's just—"
Shuji did not strike either young boy again. Whatever look he gave them silenced the snickering of Ryoichi and the whining of Touya.
"You will never force yourself onto another person, whether they be a boy, girl, man or woman, grandfather or grandmother. Or you will find yourself removed from this Family, if you're fortunate. I don't need to tell you what will happen if you aren't."
"All right, all right, I get it. Sheesh."
"The girl is off limits."
"Fine."
Neither of the young men sounded pleased about it.
"If your lusting for sex, settle it by yourself. It'll hold you over until we're near another outpost, where you can pay for it," Shuji stated.
"Paying for it is their only real chance," Botan jibed. "Never met a woman who'd lay on their back willingly for boys like these. Look at ya. It'd be like riding a Minature pony."
With that one comment, the tension dispersed into a collection of shouts and laughter—the Kurosuki Family's natural state.
Sensing it was time, Amari crawled out of Kari's lap. The woman assisted her and apologized sincerely for everything, even the parts she wasn't responsible for.
Timidly, with a glassy eye, she nodded and scurried off.
Freedom, huh? She considered Shuji's lecture, and how Kari and Botan both acted. I don't know your circumstances or what you seek to be free from. I don't know what corners of the world you hail from or what darkness you each endured.
I only know that you three, Raiga and this Mikki person care deeply about protecting your Family. You treasure the Kurosuki Family, for its given you something words alone can scarcely describe.
In that way, we aren't so different. I may not know why you seek freedom, but I can empathize with it. I can empathize with you. You haven't given up all of your humanity.
Grandma Sanshō met her halfway to the kitchen, wrinkled lips flattened together in concern, discomfort and disgust.
"Are you all right, dearie?" she asked.
Amari nodded and smiled reassuringly.
She really needed a shower. It was the only way, she felt, to wash this whole situation off of her. Maybe two showers, actually, and one needed to be blessed by a virtuous monk.
Deep down, in a very dark place, she wanted nothing more than to shove their faces into a boiling vat of the Curry of Life. Then, as they wailed and screamed, she wanted to ask them why they were making such a big deal out of it, but the kunoichi relinquished the seething hatred.
Someone had to. Because Miss Anbu certainly wouldn't.
The walls, the ceiling and the floor suddenly began to tremble. Plates and silverware rattled and vibrated in the kitchen and at the Kurosuki Family's table. A powerful roar of thunder reached their ears a moment later.
Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, it began to calm into a softer, but still deep and thrumming tremble.
"Heavens! Has another storm rolled in?" Grandma Sanshō wondered, startled.
From the table Amari caught Shuji's voice.
"Someone has upset the Boss."
"Maybe his All-Seeing Eye has seen everything Ryoichi and Touya were planning," Bontan jeered.
"Not funny, Botan!" Ryoichi retorted.
"We should return soon," Kari said.
"Agreed," Shuji nodded.
What's going on over there? Amari clutched her hand in front of her chest. Is everyone okay?
Before she could worry further, the curry shop was disturbed by the collective cacophony of hacking, coughing and colorful curses.
The Kurosuki Family had finally tasted the Curry of Life.
"Oh- oh my god!" Kari hacked and then tried to down her alcohol, nearly choking in the process. It only made her cough harsher and wetter.
"What th— what— what is—" Shuji beat his hand against his powerful chest, face as red as the curry sauce Haruhi had eaten.
Botan was on the verge of being sick, dry heaving when curses and coughs weren't breaking free from her lips. Her eyes were already spilling over with tears.
Touya was quick to his feet. He rushed over to the nearby window, ripped it open, then proceeded to upchuck the contents in his stomach in front of everyone.
Ryoichi, between coughing, crying and trying to drink, spun around and glared at Amari with glassy, rage filled eyes.
"Go- goddammit! What kinda—" He broke off into a cough. "—kinda crap are you serving!"
"We asked for this, you imbecile," Kari reprimanded. "Dammit. Dammit. My lips are burning. My insides are on fire. Spiciest curry is right, Granny."
"I didn't ask for this crap!" Ryoichi declared hotly. "This isn't spice. It's…It's…. Hell, I don't got a clue what it is! It's just total crap! And you can have it back!"
Ryoichi gripped the plate by its edge and whipped it straight at Amari and Sanshō. The old woman froze on the spot.
Thinking quickly, Amari turned to her, wrapped her into a hug and turned her back to the plate.
A stormy gale seemed to sweep through the room. Amari sensed the temperature plummet.
Miss Anbu had had enough.
With her eye shut, she did not see Miss Anbu materialize, or how she did not so much as catch the plate as she did guide it gracefully and quickly above and around the heads of the shorter pair. So quickly and gracefully she did not disturb a single piece of rice.
Then she whipped it around like a frisbee and sent it careening towards its thrower.
The movements happened so quickly no one quite saw them. Only Ryoichi realized what happened, and only when his brain recognized the plate inches from his face.
The plate crashed at such a speed, with such momentum, that it shattered his orbital bone and the bridge of his nose on impact. Furthermore, the momentum and speed sent his head shooting into the table. The blow concussed him.
Amari wouldn't know any of his injuries until later. Miss Anbu did know, however. She knew instantly what she accomplished, and it satisfied her.
The Anbu agent didn't wait to advance. She didn't grant them opportunity to process Ryoichi's condition, let alone blink.
Long, quick predatory strides carried her to the table before Amari finished turning her head to see what had happened.
When she could finally see past the blindspot of her covered left eye, Botan's teary eyes were already wide in agony. Her elbow was in the midst of being dislocated by a precision combo of two strikes.
The first had apparently disarmed the hidden stiletto dagger she equipped as she lunged at Miss Anbu, now beginning to fall out of her limp hand. The second was to dislocate and incapacitate the woman.
A strange noise between a cough and a cry of pain burst from her lips; it almost didn't sound human. The stiletto fell, but Miss Anbu snatched it out of the air, twirled it in her hand and slammed the metal pommel into Botan's abdomen.
Amari missed everything except the final blow because she blinked.
Botan collapsed to her knees. She then upchucked the contents of her stomach onto the floor. And did not move again.
Miss Anbu didn't linger. She kept advancing, quicker than before, for Shuji was on his feet and had the table in his sweaty grasps at its shorter end; he was preparing to heave, flip and throw the table at the kunoichi.
He'd gotten one side of the table off the ground at that point—the side which faced Kari.
Kari herself was in the midst of rising to her feet, also caught in a heap of sweat and coughs, and wholly unprepared for her comrade's act to backfire.
Miss Anbu reached the table before he could heave it entirely off the ground, stepping into a kick, which she thrust into its lowered edge with all of her previously restrained fury.
The result was instantaneous. The table slipped from Shuji's hands. Rather than flying at Miss Anbu, it careened straight into Kari's abdomen, grating against the floor on its lowered end as it torpedoed straight at the back wall.
Kari struck the wall with a sickening crack, the heavy weight of the table slammed right along with her.
With the table caught between her body and the floor at a sharp angle, she lay over its upper side, wheezing, clawing at the flat wooden surface.
At the exact moment her foot struck the table Miss Anbu formed one-handed handseal. For that reason, when Shuji froze on the spot, as though becoming rooted into the floor, it did not stun Amari.
Miss Anbu knocked him out with a single, harsh strike of the stiletto's pommel.
He crumpled to the floor. And yet, before his titanic body had struck the ground, Miss Anbu, gliding through the room like a furious ghoul, was upon the final member of the five Kurosuki Family members.
Touya pushed himself off the windowsill and turned around in a daze. Stringy bile was dripping off his lips when he came face to face with the unsmiling, unblinking cat-motif mask.
There was no time for him to react. Her hand gripped him by his throat, transforming his cough into a squawk of surprise. She shoved him through the opening of the window so half of his body hung outside of the curry shop.
The stiletto twirled in her hand as she lifted it, and then Miss Anbu plunged it tip first at his head.
To the Nara's surprise, Touya let out a wail rather than fell limp. Somehow, someway, he survived. But that was only momentary.
Miss Anbu's chakra was dark. Very dark. There was neither light nor love within it, only cold murderous intent and boiling rage reached the surface.
Beneath it, far from sight, was sorrow only Amari could sense.
And pain.
Tense, Amari rushed through the carnage—carnage which occurred in no more than five seconds. The Curry of Life was, without a doubt, an incredible weapon. But it was nowhere near as frightening as the kunoichi who capitalized on its powers of disorientation and incapacitation.
At Miss Anbu's side, Touya's horrified, blood-splattered face was the first thing she saw. The sight of it made her grimace.
Whimpering pitifully, hands clutched around his assailants wrists, Touya was trying very hard not to squirm, and for good reason.
The stiletto had snagged on his shattered teeth. It was all that had saved him from instant death. Now what was left of his pearly whites were biting down on and grinding against the edges of the bloody blade.
Frightened tears streamed from his eyes. He was breathing erratically, whimpering and sobbing as he looked death in the eyes, and realized there would be no mercy. No forgiveness.
He was going to die. And only when the light left his eyes would the being of death that had materialized before him be satisfied.
"You don't need to kill him. He's no longer a threat," Amari tried to deescalate.
"Why would you give him the dignity to live when he would so easily steal yours?" Miss Anbu questioned. Her voice was chilling. Amari felt herself shiver. "I've seen enough men like him. You heard him yourself. It's only a little fun. You would probably enjoy it!" she hissed and exerted more force on the blade.
The stiletto grated down his teeth. Touya wailed wordlessly. Flecks of blood leapt off his gums and tongue, staining the blade.
He was good as dead if she didn't calm Miss Anbu down.
"I did hear him," Amari argued. "Trust me, I wanted nothing more than to shove his teeth down his throat. But he didn't get that chance. He wouldn't have, even if these people hadn't stopped him. I would have stopped him. Or you would have."
"I will do more than stop him," Miss Anbu replied coldly. Amari felt herself shiver again. "You cannot teach someone like this. No. Someone like him hasn't even hit his stride yet. To show him mercy would not be a kindness. It will only give him a chance to victimize someone who cannot defend themselves. Do not forget what they've already done."
"I haven't. I know you're right."
"Then why? Why do you plead for his wretched life?"
"It isn't him I'm pleading for. It's you." Gently, timidly, she rested her hand on the Anbu agent's elbow. "It's your heart I'm pleading for, which is tangled up in so many painful knots right now."
"Amaririsu…"
She felt the sudden hesitation. It was the foothold she needed to stop all of this.
"Please, stop," she pleaded, leaning further into the Anbu agent's view to look through the eyeholes in her mask and into her eyes. "The threat is neutralized. The battle is over. You're only hurting yourself now. This blade of darkness you are wielding cuts both ways, it will take his life and a piece of your heart. Don't let it. He isn't worth it."
"Your mercy is wasted on him."
"Maybe. But it isn't wasted on you. Please," she pleaded again, softening her voice. "There is so much I don't know or remember. But the one thing I know for certain is I don't want to lose you to this darkness. We've already lost so much. So please, don't let it consume you."
The curry shop fell under a tense spell for a long moment. Touya whimpered and cried the whole time.
Finally, Miss Anbu slowly began to remove the stiletto. The blade grated against his shattered teeth the whole way, the noise akin to nails scratching a chalkboard.
Amari shuddered. Every inch of her skin prickled and tingled uncomfortably with gooseflesh.
God, she hoped to never hear that noise again.
The Anbu agent pulled him from the window. She gently moved Amari aside before rendering Touya unconscious.
Calmly, silently, she shut the window and wiped the stiletto clean on her pants before finally slipping it into her ninja tool box. She then lowered her gaze to her hands, splattered by flecks of blood; they were trembling unnaturally.
Her hands weren't supposed to tremble. They weren't meant to quake and quiver like a starving, terrified animal after a vicious beating. It opposed the stoicism necessary for the Anbu. Yet they trembled. They quaked so unnaturally she didn't recognize them.
Raising her gaze to the window, the expressionless cat-motif reflected against the windowpanes, staring back at her with its unblinking, unsmiling porcelain white face.
She barely recognized herself anymore.
Hard questions came to mind as she wiped her hands and gauntlets on her pants:
How could a sword be anything except a symbol of death when her bloody hands were only capable of taking life?
How could she nurture her Master's daughter when she was just a broken shell?
What would Hayate think of her now? What would her Master?
What a cruel world this was.
Cruel.
And cold.
Instinctively, as the Anbu agent turned away from the window, Amari stepped in and hugged her arms around the woman's mid-section, resting her cheek against her armored abdomen. Miss Anbu stiffened.
"Sorry if this is sort of sudden," she said softly. "But my heart told me to hug you. Now that I'm here, I'm finally certain about something." She nuzzled her head into Miss Anbu. "You were definitely a part of my family."
"…Haya…"
"It's okay. I'm okay. I'm alive. And so are you. We're together again. Right now, that's all that matters."
Like that, light broke through the darkness. It spread warmth and nurtured life through the cold void, and suddenly the world was a little less cruel. A little less cold. And a little less painful.
All because she was here.
Haya Uchiha had finally come home.
Slowly, timidly, afraid she would suddenly disappear, Miss Anbu's quivering arms wrapped around her. When she did not vanish she held her tighter. And tighter. Squeezing her smaller frame beneath vulnerable, armored arms.
Amari didn't mind. She liked hugs.
Soon after, without letting go, Miss Anbu kneeled on the floor.
Her fingers dug into Amari's kimono. Her shoulders trembled.
Then it was as though she wasn't sure where to hold onto her; her fingers began to gently thread through her hair, combing her wild mane; she pressed her hands against her back, bringing the young girl into a deeper and tighter embrace; she clasped her shoulders and scooted her a step back to look at her from head to toe.
"You've…You've grown so much," she whispered.
"Hehe," the young girl giggled. "Guess so. Haven't hit my full growth spurt yet, but its nice to know I've actually grown a litt—"
Suddenly she was back in an embrace. It took her a moment to regain her wits. Smiling softly, Amari wrapped her arms around the back of the woman's neck and leaned into her.
"Sorry I'm late," she quipped softly. "The path of life has a lot of twists and turns. It's been a real drag."
Miss Anbu choked out a painful laugh.
She heard the woman whisper her name—her birth name—again and again. She heard her sniffle and apologize repeatedly for things she didn't specify, for things that Amari knew in her heart were not the kunoichi's fault.
More than all of that, though, she felt Miss Anbu clinging to her for dear life.
Then and there she knew this was exactly where she was meant to be.
"I'm here now," she whispered, nuzzling her new older sister. "And I'm not going anywhere. I promise."
"You're a clever kid."
It was the first thing Kari said since being bound and imprisoned, for lack of a better word, in a Seal and Capture Perimeter alongside her four compatriots.
There was neither a sneer on her face or a venomous barb in her tone. She looked at Amari now with a newfound respect, albeit sided with considerable frustration.
Compared to the dangerous flash in Botan's eyes and Shuji's foreboding silence, Kari's frustration wasn't hard to bear.
"I had hoped we would avoid confrontation altogether," Amari replied, standing just outside of the Seal and Capture Perimeter.
She had tied her hair up into a ponytail again. Over her eye she wore her headband.
"You can thank those two," she gestured to the bound and gagged forms of Ryoichi and Touya, "for your current predicaments."
"Oh, I know," she scowled. "If I get free, I have plenty of ways of thanking them."
Ryoichi didn't have a glib response. Or any response for that matter—he was still out of it.
Gag stained by blood, Touya merely whined pitifully and shut his eyes. He couldn't do anything else.
"Why didn't ya gag us?" Botan demanded. "Why only those fools?"
"Because they have nothing to say that interests me," the kunoichi replied calmly. "I'd say they've said plenty already. They're no different from any other common thug I've encountered. They relish the power your Family grants them. They weaponize the fear it places over others to play their 'games.'"
Amari flicked her cold eye to the pair. Moments ago they'd been in control. They possessed all the power and fear. Commanded it over the 'shy and innocent' waitress.
Now she was in control. She was always in control, they realized. Because standing in her shadow, stoic and silent, was her faithful guardian.
Now Touya, for he was the only one capable of comprehending it between the two, realized how insignificant he truly was. Now he realized how fleeting his power, his fear, and his life truly were.
He had stared into the void. He'd seen it as sure as he'd seen his short life flash before his eyes. Now, Amari bet, all he wanted to do was go home, far, far away from everything this life of banditry entailed.
"Nothing they say will add any depth to this conversation," she said. "They're new to the Kurosuki Family; by your own words, Shuji, they haven't learned who you are or what your Family stands for. I assume they never will now."
Shuji grunted but said nothing.
"If you're expectin' us to betray the Boss, you can go to hell," Botan hissed.
"I'm not expecting you to betray anyone," Amari replied, voice even and calm. "If I wanted to gather Intel on your Boss and Family in order to dismantle it, I wouldn't waste time talking to you."
"Then what are you after?" Kari asked.
"In my short career as a shinobi, most of the roaming coteries of thugs, bandits or rogue shinobi I've encountered are like those two. They're greedy, power hungry, selfish, and loyal to no one except themselves. They lack morals altogether. Many follow a leader either out of fear or because they've successfully led them to new prizes.
"There's no true loyalty among them, however. There isn't a sense of family."
"Get to the point."
"I want to know what makes Raiga different. What makes the Kurosuki Family different? You don't follow him out of fear. You also have no intention of stabbing him in the back. You are unequivocally loyal.
"In your helpless position, where you sit at the mercy of an Anbu agent," she gestured to Miss Anbu, who hovered behind her, "any other thug would be bartering for their lives. They would forfeit secrets. Treasure. Weaknesses. Anything and everything would be on the table as long as they would live. You three would rather die. Am I wrong?"
"No."
"It's likely the same for the rest of the Kurosuki Family, with an exception for a few outliers," she said with an absent gesture to Touya and Ryoichi.
Kari leveled her with an intense gaze. "Why do you care? We're just another band of thugs to you Leaf shinobi, aren't we?"
"The first woman I killed—Kōri Yukihana—followed a despicable man. A man who killed his own brother to seize power over a Nation," Amari replied. "I never bothered to ask why. I never bothered to consider what circumstances led her there. And when she begged me for mercy, I scorned her. I shunned her. I yelled and screamed about what she had done to the innocent people of her Nation. And then I killed her.
"Later, on a different mission, I met another kunoichi named Tayuya. She was enslaved by her leader. She admitted to hating him. Hating him with more passion and hatred than I myself possess for that same monster and all he's done. He starved her. Imprisoned her. Experimented on her. Enslaved her to his Will. Forced her to fight and kill others to survive for his entertainment.
"Yet…" Amari looked down at her hand. "She reached her hand out to me. She asked me to free her, even if it meant becoming enslaved to my Will instead. To her, that was the only freedom she had left. It was the only way she could finally be free of his grasps. I tried to convince her to join me instead. I tried to reach my hand out and bring her into my world, rather than join her in the hell she occupied. But…my world was a different prison in her eyes."
"So you killed her?"
"Not directly," she admitted after a moment of thought. "My choice did, though. I was in a hurry… Or, at least, that's what I keep thinking when I go back to it. But if I had stopped and thought about it, if I had really tried my hardest to save her, I could have. I could have stopped her. If I'd only tried a bit harder to understand her feelings, her circumstances, and thought ahead, I would've known there was another path."
A path where she brought Tayuya back into the Leaf did exist. She could see it clearly in hindsight. There were choices she could've made to make that a reality.
We could have Sealed away her Curse Mark, like Master Jiraiya did with Sasuke. We could have kept her under guard until we could find a way to remove it or bind it under an even stronger Seal so Orochimaru's influence no longer afflicted her. And then, maybe…
"I might have found a way to free her," Amari said softly. "I'll never know now. But…I wish I could've saved her." She lifted her gaze back to Kari. "You three, your Family, also seeks freedom. If my world—the world of a shinobi and the Village System—is a cage to you, I want to know why. I need to know why."
"Why is it so important to you?"
"Because I want to change this world," she answered directly. "I want it to be a place where people, regardless of Nation or background, can laugh and smile with each other without fear or distrust. I want to find an answer to true peace.
"In order to do that, I need to understand this world and its people beyond my own limited perspective. It's the only way I'll ever be able to reach my hand out to everyone. It's the only way I'll be able to burn bright enough to save and free people like Tayuya from the monsters who enslave them."
"Burn bright enough? You're speaking nonsense. The hell does that even mean?" Botan asked.
"So," Amari ignored her, "will you indulge me or not?"
No one said anything. Kari, however, didn't look away from her; she was visibly considering her options, and, perhaps, captivated by her impromptu speech.
"You have grand goals for a young girl," she said after a lengthy pause.
"What's the point of life if you don't aim high?"
"You'll avoid disappointment."
"I'd rather try and fail than spend my final moments regretting that I never tried at all."
"Hmph," Kari hummed a short chuckle. "You remind me of my son when he was your age. He was a passionate boy with big dreams."
Amari didn't ask where he was now. It was obvious.
"What is the Kurosuki Family to you, Kari?" she asked.
There was no hesitation in Kari's answer.
"It's my home."
When Chōjūrō regained consciousness, he did so suddenly, awaking in the prone position with a sharp gasp followed by a harsh cough. He turned onto his side, coughing as if he'd inhaled clouds of smog, pressing his hands against his aching chest.
Dazed, he tried to gather his bearings despite the haze in his vision. He tried to wipe away the thick fog clouding his thoughts.
God, my chest…
He coughed hoarsely. Squeezed his eyes shut and breathed carefully. Or tried to, anyway, against another cough and a sharp breath or two.
His entire body, he diagnosed, was aching. His knees felt bruised. His right shoulder was definitely bruised. But nothing seemed to be broken.
Any landing you can walk away from…
The thought snapped his eyes open. It wiped away the thick, shapeless haze and made his immediate, blurry surroundings almost pristine enough to shine.
He remembered it all. He remembered why he was now lying on the cold stone as droplets of cold rain began to slowly patter against the earth.
As a rumble of thunder cascaded down the stony terraces, and as Chōjūrō struggled to rise onto his hands and knees, desperate to move, he remembered Karashi's impertinence. He remembered how it angered Master Raiga one time too many.
The memory of Master Raiga holding the young man by his throat, declaring how Karashi had given him no choice, that he had to arrange his funeral, was as pristine as mountain water.
He could vividly see the absolute terror on Karashi's face as he choked and gasped and tried to weasel his way out of punishment.
He remembered Haruhi's message tapped in code on his thigh.
And he remembered how it all quickly spiraled out of control beneath a flash of lightning called down upon them.
"Karashi, my child, you've given me no choice. I'll have to give you a funeral!"
Were it possible, Karashi would have begged and likely cried for mercy. Instead, he could only gasp and choke, desperate for the slightest oxygen. His face was on the verge of turning purple.
Eyes glistening, he grabbed at the Senior Swordsman's forearm as his legs dangled and kicked helplessly beneath him, held—hung, essentially—by the large hand tightly wrapped around his throat, lifting him off the ground.
The tense air left both Mist shinobi on edge. Even Haruhi, who's calm composure did not visibly change, but who's stiffer posture revealed she felt the unnerving violent aura permeating off of Master Raiga. Chōjūrō had chills.
With one final tap, Haruhi's hand left his thigh. She rose, cup of hot chocolate in hand, and sauntered around the coffee table.
"A funeral is unnecessary," Haruhi said as she approached Master Raiga and, by extension, Karashi. "He is a rude, indecisive, spineless coward. What would killing him solve?"
"A funeral is the only way to remember the Karashi I cared for," Master Raiga replied, voice a low, threatening growl. "A funeral will allow us to remember the good times. We can remember him with that excited twinkle in his eyes, not with these awful eyes he now has."
Chōjūrō felt his grip tighten around the hilt of Hiramekarei, presently wrapped in its bandages and standing between his legs.
I don't think we can bring him back to the Mist…
"Expel him from your ranks, then," Haruhi said, moving around the couch to stand beside Karashi's kicking body. "You said he ran away from home. Expel him and we will escort him there, where he will live in obscurity and peace for the rest of his life."
"No. Karashi must be given a funeral. He's insulted me, Mei, you two, and he will go on to endanger the lives of my Family. It breaks my heart, truly. The only cure for this grief is to mourn him properly."
Haruhi stared intensely at Raiga. "We cannot allow you to kill him."
"Is the life of a liar worth so much to you?"
"He means nothing to me," Haruhi answered plainly. "He is a spineless fool—a liar who is quick to insult others. I do not like him. However, I will not condone his pointless murder. Such barbarity opposes everything Lady Mei stands for.
"This compulsion of yours is a parasite of the Dark Times. It has attached itself to your heart. However, this tumor is one you possess the power to remove. Simply expel him and abandon these 'funerals' you hold for the living."
"Or?" Raiga asked dangerously.
Haruhi narrowed her eyes. "Or I will remove you instead," she promised.
Master Raiga said nothing. Karashi's kicks were growing weaker. His face was a reddish-purple and he appeared on the verge of passing out.
Knuckles white, Chōjūrō felt his foot begin to bounce and his heart begin to race.
It was then he saw a tear cascade down Master Raiga's cheek.
"I am filled with joy," he said. The tension could have been severed by a dull butter knife. His heart was beginning to pound, his hairs were beginning to stand on end. "Mei has sent two wonderful representations of the Mist's future to me. I couldn't be more proud of you two, standing up to me like this.
"But I also feel grief, for I now see I do not have a place in your Village. I want to always remember your faces, though. I'm sorry, but that means I'll have to give you both a funeral as well!"
No sooner did the words leave his mouth did Haruhi's hand flash into action.
A violent scream broke from Master Raiga's lips as a cup of hot chocolate, from which ribbons of steam still rose, splashed against his eyes. He dropped Karashi, who fell like a sack of melons and began to choke and gasp on the floor.
Chōjūrō leapt into action at the same time, just as Haruhi had asked him to. He vaulted over the coffee table and swung Hiramekarei back.
"Sorry, Master Raiga!" he apologized. "Hiramekarei Release!"
The bandages flew off his faithful blade. Blue chakra surged around it, shrouding the blade in the form of a hammer.
"Raiga! Hammer on your left!" a panicked voice called from Raiga's body.
A second voice? Chōjūrō wondered, baffled and uncertain of the noise or its source.
Blindly, Raiga bent over, grabbed the couch and heaved it up in the direct path of the Swordsman. The effort shielded him from the blunt force of the hammer, which instead struck the couch, shooting it into the Senior Swordsman.
Together they torpedoed through the walls separating the living space from the bedroom, and then out the back wall of the small quarters out into the open air.
"Grab the fool," Haruhi ordered, dashing to the Kiba Blades. "This battlefield has too much risk for collateral damage."
"Right!" Chōjūrō placed Hiramekarei onto his harness, swept Karashi off the floor and heaved the choking and gasping young man onto his shoulder.
They were out the door a moment later.
"What are…you doing?" Karashi demanded through his gasps for oxygen.
"Quiet," Haruhi commanded, voice as cold as the chill in the air.
"The Boss… Did you kill him?"
"No."
"You stole his blades."
"Be quiet," Haruhi noticeably scowled in anger. "You are responsible for this mess. It is because of you negotiations deteriorated so quickly."
"It wasn't my fault!"
"You forced us to act recklessly," she hissed.
Chōjūrō flinched. Haruhi's anger was different from Natsumi's. Where the Mizukage's assistant was loud and powerful, Haruhi's wielded hers like a blade—so quiet, controlled and precise it was terrifying.
"You spoke out of turn over and over, inserting your ignorant opinion when no one ever asked for it," she reprimanded as they ascended the terrace. "You are so insecure and powerless, the smallest whiff of influence and power has left you desperate for more, no matter how it harms the lives around you. You're addicted to the power."
"That's not true!"
"Had you stayed silent he may have joined us in the Mist. You and your whole Family. You may have become a strong man."
"Wait? Seriously? You think so?"
"No," Haruhi replied harshly. "I sought to prove a point, and I have. The slightest hint you may have become powerful was all I required to change your mind."
"Hey, that isn't it at all!"
"Liar," she did not break off in her angry tirade. "You do not wish to know a life without this power—no, this fear you have ruled over these innocent people with."
"Why are you always chewing me out? You don't even know me."
"I know your kind. That is enough."
"Ugh! There you go again, talking down to me like I'm an idiot."
"You are."
"Screw you, lady! I didn't ask for you to save me. Man, you're worse than my mother!"
Haruhi's hands, he noticed, clutched tighter around the Kiba Blades hilts. "Were Lady Mei's values different…"
"Easy, Haruhi," Chōjūrō tried to calm. Because he knew what the rest of her sentence would be.
"Were Lady Mei's values different, I would remove you."
"I do not like him," Haruhi repeated.
"The feelings mutual!" Karashi retorted hotly.
"Oh boy," Chōjūrō sighed, climbing up onto the terrace. "Can we just get along for a bit longer? Master Raiga wants us all dead now. Whether you like each other or not, we can't change that."
"He may want you two dead. But I bet if I talk to Mikki she'll be able to get him to see my side."
"You are a fool."
"Sh- shut up, lady! Nobody asked you."
So much for getting along, Chōjūrō thought wryly.
Before he could make another plea for cohesion, or at the very least silence from Karashi, a flash of blue caught his eye. Instantly, his hairs begin to stand on end.
His heart skipped a beat.
Turning his head, feeling as if time had suddenly begun to slow down, his horrified eyes locked onto the Kiba Blades, suddenly glowing with Lightning Chakra.
Likewise, Haruhi's expression had shifted into surprise, eyes as wide as his as she realized the cause.
Without thinking, she planted her front foot and kicked Chōjūrō with the other. He didn't register the hard kick, he barely registered how he was flying back and off the terrace.
He only had enough time to open his mouth, Haruhi's name rising up out of his throat just as his heart wedged into it.
Then the bolt of lightning struck.
He never managed to scream.
Haruhi…
Ahead of him, within arms reach, was Hiramekarei lying on the cold stone. It must have been knocked from his harness when he crashed…here.
Grabbing ahold of one of the hilts, Chōjūrō shook his head to shake the cobwebs free. This was a bad time to be frazzled and dazed. He had to move. And fast.
As he rose to a knee, he gained a better view of his surroundings, and grimaced; the terrace they'd crossed and climbed moments before the lightning bolt struck had gained three new features.
First, Karashi was laying supine a few meters away, shifting in agony and groaning. Second, there were debris of stones shattered off the upper terrace scattered around them.
Finally, and the cause of his grimace, Mikki was kneeling beside Karashi. She didn't seem all that interested in the young man or his groaning. She was watching the Swordsman, who examined her in return; he could see the basket-shaped guard of a curved cutlass poking out of her rain cloak.
This was bad.
The dangerous gleam in her eyes was matched by her gruff voice.
"Finally awake, eh, Sunshine?"
"I don't…want to fight you," he said sincerely, groggily.
"Not giving me much choice, Sunshine. You and your little Siren seem to have kidnapped a member of our Family. Apparently you little fools even tried to steal the Boss's swords."
"It isn't that simple."
"Noting ever is."
Chōjūrō's eyes flicked to the upper terrace. Mikki noticed.
"The Boss is up there now," she said. "So is your Siren."
Gritting his teeth, Chōjūrō rose to his feet and lifted Hiramekarei. She had no intention of letting him go, that much was clear by her tone.
This wasn't what he wanted. This wasn't how he hoped any of this would go.
"Please, don't stand in my way," he pleaded. "Let me go to Haruhi. We didn't come here to fight or kill anyone."
Mikki rose, stepped over Karashi's groaning form, and rested her left hand on the pommel of her sword. The movement revealed another weapon hung on her opposite hip—a spiked club, he noted, about the size of her forearm.
"Tell me what happened and I may be able to convince the Boss to calm down," she offered.
"She doesn't have that kind of time!" he snapped.
Mikki was unfazed. "Then you better speak quickly."
Darn it, he cursed.
"Mikki," Karashi groaned. "They upset the Boss. They—"
"Are you serious?" Chōjūrō couldn't help his bewilderment. "Master Raiga intends to kill you! We just… And yet you…"
"I'm telling the truth," Karashi lied. "Don't believe this outsider. He's just—"
"Karashi, has Raiga planned your funeral?" Mikki questioned, a harsh frown twisting and wrinkling her scarred features.
"Ye- yeah. Sort of. But it's all a big misunderstanding. And it's these Mist guys fault!"
"You…idiot," Chōjūrō hissed, feeling his anger spike. "Haruhi risked her life to save you. We threw away a chance at peace with Master Raiga because she believed Lady Mei would disapprove of letting an innocent die. Despite all of your insults! You insulted Lady Mei, Haruhi and Master Raiga, and she still decided your life was worth throwing it all away for! And now you…"
He grit his teeth and clutched Hiramekarei's hilts tighter. Anger solved nothing. It didn't get him any closer to helping Haruhi. Helping his friend, protecting her, was all that mattered now.
"I don't have time for this," he ground the words out. "Our chance at a peaceful resolution is gone now. Maybe it was impossible from the start. I don't know. Either way, Haruhi's life is more valuable to me than yours or Master Raiga's."
He narrowed his eyes at Mikki and lowered his voice. "I'm sorry, Miss Mikki. I didn't want to fight you. But I made myself a promise. I promised I would never let Haruhi down again. My friend needs me. Step aside or I will force you to."
Smirking a grotesque looking smirk, Mikki unlatched her rain cloak and let it fall into a heap, revealing the maroon shawl she wore beneath it, draping over the upper half of her scarred and tattooed left arm.
"If you're sorry, then I'm sorry, too, Sunshine. I should've never allowed Raiga to bring that idiot into this Family. I knew he was trouble the moment I saw him. It's a damn shame this is how it all turned out." Mikki drew her cutlass. "But a Captain always goes down with her ship. There's no stopping the typhoon that idiot unleashed."
"I figured as much."
A flash of lightning flickered from the upper terrace. The ground trembled beneath their feet.
Haruhi…
"I cannot allow you to continue these pointless funerals," he declared. "As a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, I will stop you!"
Mikki grinned wildly. "Take a good look at the Swordsman, Karashi!" Mikki said. "You're looking at a real man, you spineless knave! Now, Sunshine," she readied her cutlass, "show me how well you wield that sword!"
Lightning flashed. Thunder rumbled.
The Pirate Queen and the Swordsman charged.
The joy and sorrow Raiga felt was immeasurable.
Hand pressed to his right eye, he lumbered towards the limp body of Haruhi, a passionate and straightforward kunoichi, a subordinate of Mei who had followed the new Mizukage's beliefs to the very end.
"I can still remember when you first asked me if hot chocolate was some manner of spiced chocolate. You asked it so earnestly. I could only laugh at your innocence," he reminisced.
"You even made Mikki laugh. First with your sharp-tongue, and then with your innocence. I'll always remember that blank expression when you claimed you did not know how to sing. You meant it. Just like you meant it when you said you would remove me."
A tear glided down Raiga's left cheek. His right eye did not produce a tear, it could not, he knew, for the stinging burn of hot chocolate had damaged it beyond repair.
It was no matter. He could still see out of his left eye, and the other half of his soul could see even clearer for them.
He paused in his lumbering grief to pick up one of the Kiba Blades, laying at least three coffins from the Mist kunoichi if they were stacked in a single column.
"Now look at you," he wept, the burned flesh around his blue eye making his features more manic. "You forced me to kill you!"
Haruhi did not reply. She could not, he knew. Her fully limp body lay upon the cold stone on her left side, back facing him; the slate sky was ready to join him in weeping for the unfortunate and early demise of such a young girl.
"Did you think if you stole the Kiba Blades my connection to them would be severed?" he wondered. "You're a clever girl. With any ordinary blade you may have been right. However, I have spent years channeling my Lightning chakra into these blades. They are an extension of me now. They're like additional limbs. Or lightning rods for my chakra."
He began to lumber ahead again, Kiba Blade in his left hand and his right pressed against his blind eye. The other Kiba Blade lay in her limp hand, angled to rest on its sharpened point.
"She isn't dead," the other half of his soul informed.
"What?" Raiga gasped, pausing.
Ribbons of smoke rose off her still body. The beautiful dress she wore, which once reminded him of freshly fallen snow, was frayed. Strands of short chestnut hair tickled her cheek at the call of the breeze.
"Impossible!" he said. "No one can survive a direct blast of that power."
His vision was badly damaged. Blurry. But he was certain she wasn't breathing.
"But…I can see her life force. She is alive."
"Of course," he replied, lowering his voice. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have doubted you. You've never lied to me before." Again Raiga began to approach Haruhi's body, strides longer, twisting the Kiba Blade into reverse grip. "I don't know how she survived, but I'll send her off while she's unconscious. It's the merciful thing to do."
Mei wouldn't want her to suffer. She would want it to be quick and painless. For her, he would do it, as a sign of respect for the new Mizukage and as a sign of respect to Haruhi, who had shown him so clearly the kind of lying thug Karashi was.
"The Kiba Blades are the sharpest swords in existence," he said as he stood above her, raising the blade. He squinted as he aimed to plunge it directly through her heart. "It'll be over before she feels—"
"Raiga, guard!"
His vision was too damaged to perceive all the little details his other half could. He did not see—was unable to see—the limp hand suddenly, with renewed life, tighten around the hilt of the other Kiba Blade. Through a damaged eye he could not see hers open, the orange gaze sharp and very much alive.
He did not see the calm expansion of her diaphragm; her calculated and clever act of playing possum was flawless. Were she able to hide her life force or momentarily stop her heart, Raiga realized, she would be the perfect predator.
Each little detail he failed to perceive passed within less than a second. Without hesitation, with life that should have been taken from her, Haruhi sprang alive like a restless demon had possessed her.
Efficiently, with finesse and speed, she released chakra from her free hand, pressed against the terrace out of his sight, throwing herself up into the air and into a rapid horizontal whirl.
The Kiba Blade sang as she spun. Its steel glinted despite the slate sky, small crackles of lightning danced along its sharpened edges.
Unconsciously, for it happened too quickly for Raiga to consciously process it all, he felt his respect for the kunoichi flourish. Indeed, she was a fine addition to Mei's new Mist Village.
The command of the other half of his soul was all he truly processed.
Instinctively, as the other half of the Kiba Blades sought to eviscerate him from groin to head, Raiga shifted his sword into an unpalatable guard brought about by the awkward reverse grip he'd chosen.
The Kiba Blades shrieked as they clashed. A stream of Lightning shot off each blade, carving through the stone terrace, flinging tiny pebble-like debris through the air. Raiga felt his sword nearly fly with it as a result of the awkward grip and power generated by the kunoichi's momentum. It was an almost lethal combination.
Raiga deflected the blow and stumbled back, lowering his hand from his eye; the flesh around it, now burned, was darker than the rest of his skin.
Haruhi rotated and twisted elegantly through the air to land on her feet in a low crouch, readying to pounce. Which she did, lunging ahead with his sword.
Were it not for the other half of his soul's initial command, Raiga would have died then and there for the same reasons he chastised Karashi. He'd underestimated this girl—no, this Mist kunoichi.
He survived the ambush, however, and now had the opportunity to see what her next move would be. And, more importantly, to demand an answer to one very important question.
"How?" he demanded over the second shriek of their blades clashing.
Lightning shot off towards the edge of the terrace, uprooting debris. Haruhi did not flinch. She held him under her sharp gaze.
"How did you survive? How are you moving?"
"The same power which you used to strike me, I used to shield myself," she answered plainly.
"You used the Thunder Armor?" Raiga questioned, baffled, but felt his lips splitting in a manic grin.
She said nothing. And yet that was answer enough.
"Impressive. Was it instinct? Have you studied the properties of the Kiba Blades? Is Lightning Nature your affinity?"
"You will infect this world with your darkness," Haruhi replied emotionlessly. "You are a tumor to this Nation, a shadow which obstructs the path to Lady Mei's dream. You were given a chance to reform, to cast away the demons in your heart, but you've chosen to hold them tighter."
"Raiga, Lightning!"
He felt its thrum, too.
With greater physical strength, Raiga pushed aside the kunoichi's blade and watched as another streak of Lightning carved through the terrace.
This youngster is grasping the powers of the Kiba Blades quickly. He grinned. She's a born Swordsmen, just like Mangetsu.
"Yours is a face I always want to remember," he declared. "Haruhi of the Mist, I will give you a funeral worthy of a Queen!"
Haruhi did not reply verbally. She lunged in and struck with ferocity.
Lightning flashed. Thunder rumbled.
Their dueling swords shrieked like banshees.
Trees whipped by Team Guy as they advanced on the mining pit.
The situation had deteriorated faster than a tremendous mudslide could sweep away an entire mountain town. Worse, the necessity of distance to stay under Raiga's nose left them out of immediate shining knight rescue distance.
The fight had already begun. Neji could see it in his Byakugan. Mimi could hear the shrieks of demons on the air.
The stormy sky flashed with lightning.
Don't go dying on us, Mist shinobi, Mimi thought.
Team Guy dashed towards the storm.
Review Response to Guest: Happy to hear you are enjoying Amari as a character! I can promise there will be a few more original arcs not previously in the anime before the end of this portion of Naruto, pre-Shippuden and pre-time skip. I do understand wanting more of them since it allows for new, not previously seen encounters instead of revisiting things we've all seen at one point. It's why I try to add new twists, like Mito's Reanimation in the last arc, and Kasai's and the Masked Man's return in the Land of Sound. My intention is that each arc, whether from the anime or an original, effects the characters, their growth, their paths or the world as a whole.
As for stealing the light off of Naruto, although he is one of the major characters in this fanfic, and always will be, Amari is the protagonist at this point. It's a story of her journey and lineage. It's her battle against Kasai. Or, in Kasai's own words, it's their war. Their inheritance. Their destiny, to be dramatic, and all that it entails. And it will swallow the world and those she holds precious, just as it had with Hashirama and Madara.
Do you mean too many characters are being shown as redeemable? That they're being shown that way and then put in a position where conflict still ensues? Or that they're being shown as redeemable even though they shouldn't be? I'll try to answer all three of these, assuming it was one of them. My intention is to add nuance to characters, like Raiga, who in the anime was just crazy except for caring for Ranmaru. His Family were merely thugs with no background or anything else, who apparently fell in line with Karashi once Raiga was considered 'dead.'
In this arc specifically, for a little behind the scenes note, the true villain of this arc is Karashi every step of the way. Raiga is still crazy, true. But he doesn't want this conflict, not deep in his heart. He doesn't actually want to hurt Haruhi and Chojuro, he doesn't want to hurt Mei. But his psyche is so fractured he doesn't know how else to handle the situation. He only knows what he was taught.
Mikki, and even Kari, Shuji and Botan, are all loyal to him. The Kurosuki Family is a home. It's their borderless, roaming nation. It's the one place they can live freely, and though the commit crimes, and Raiga's funerals are heinous, its hinted and shown through the arc the world has traumatized, rejected, or otherwise damaged all of the true followers of the Kurosuki Family. There's nowhere else for them to go. And so wherever Raiga, who has saved them all, goes is home for them.
Karashi is merely after power and influence. He has no values. No ethics. His idea of a man is that of a common thug: Power is everything, and as long as he has it, it doesn't matter who gets hurt along the way. And if he has to sell a few souls to weasel out of punishment, whether they be Haruhi and Chojuro, old man Ena or the Kurosuki Family, he'll do it. And because of his unmitigated selfishness, this entire conflict has begun.
Now, not everyone will be redeemable. Because there are some people in this world, both the shinobi world and our own, who are like the Hound of the Mist. Monsters who take pleasure in the suffering of others. There will be characters who are redeemable who die, and characters who are redeemable who live. That was a warning Atsuko gave Amari in the Land of Snow. There will be those she wishes to save, who others wish to save, and for one reason or another they won't be able to. Like with Tayuya, which has become such a personal failure Amari has taken on her shoulders.
I hope that rambling makes sense.
I'm honestly not sure which characters, besides Mikki, who have been specifically brutalized by men off the top of my head. Amari, I suppose, has the Foundation through the massacre, Kasai, and then past bullies, but Kasai is her arch-nemsis by design and past bullies were ambigious at best. Some were shown as boys and men, but I don't think its ever stated they were specifically only men. Hikari was abused by the Villagers of the Sand, which consists of men and women. Natsumi had the same issue, both men and women townsfolk. Mimi had kids in the academy and teachers, which can be either men or women. Haruhi's backstory is as of now vague and unknown. Mika, Chinami, Meer and Yumi were victims of the Crimson Flowers and their flower shops, which showed men and women abusing them. Aimi's past is yet unexplored. Yukiko from the My Hero arc spoke of a friend who was abused by a boy, but she was specifically mentioned to have an abusive and toxic mother, who made her afraid of her own power, along with other adults.
Although backstories like Natsumi's and Hikari's are similar, they're all orphans. Life as an orphan is shown to be tough in the shinobi world. I've also tried to show in more detail that those with kekkei genkai and special abilities, especially in Nations like the Sand and Mist, are treated as outcasts and tools. Because unless you grew up in the Leaf, Stone and Cloud, chances were you lived a tough life. Whether because you were a smaller Nation used as a battlefield, or you were born into a Nation that was impoverished.
Men and women can be toxic, there's no doubt about that. Toxicity isn't gender based or determined by wealth, religious beliefs, culture, skin color or any societal marker we use to categorize others. People are just people, regardless of country of origin. They can be nice. Rude. Empathetic. Toxic. Loving. Parasitic. As Amari said, the key is finding the ones who lift you up, and cut out the ones who drag you down.
If it seems there are more men in this story that are toxic/brutalize people, think of it this way: What is the ratio of men to women shinobi? There's at least one girl in every squad in the rookies, Team Guy, Sand Siblings and Sound Genin in the anime, you had Anko, Kurenai, Yūgao, Tsunade and Shizune in the anime as adults, and that's really it that I can think of off the top of my head. There may be a few more in the first part of Naruto that I can't remember, and the princesses from the movies and fillers all came across as selfish or rude or cruel in the beginning, but there weren't that many women around, so you're seeing more men in action. You're seeing more men as the clients and heroes beside Naruto's squad, and as the villains they oppose. Not to mention all the brutal beatings and screaming Naruto endured at the hands of every girl except Hinata.
I doubt its done with any ill intent, since I know its not done on my side with any. It's just meant as comedy, or that's how I took it. I mean, as much as I love Sakura and how she's evolved in my fanfic, she's a screeching fangirl who constantly berates and belittles Naruto the entire series. Which is obviously wrong. But it's just the character of Sakura in part 1. She's a twelve year old. Twelve year olds are immature and can be cruel. Doesn't take away from how much I enjoy the series, it just is what it is. She was who she was. I didn't like it, I wish she could've grown and been better, but right, wrong or indifferent, Kishimoto wrote it the way he did. And I try to write her the way I wish she, and the other girls, could have been.
Does this mean men are more toxic than women? Or that women are more toxic than men? No. People are people. If they're toxic, they're toxic not because of gender or anything else. Whether because of environment, personal demons or other possible reasons, they've decided to be a real drag to others. I try not to judge because who knows what that person may be going through. They may be having a bad day or they may be living in a worse circumstance than my own. Some may just enjoy the drama and toxicity. Some may not know how to express themselves because their emotions are so repressed, and as a result their words or actions make others miserable. And they may not know how to stop, even though they want to.
I wouldn't say anyone takes jabs at gender. The way I see it is girls think boys are troublesome and boys think girls are troublesome. Since generally we're in the perspective of a girl, there may be more of the first, but it's all harmless teasing and jokes. It's meant to be funny. There's no intent beyond young kids thinking the opposite sex and adults in general are troublesome. Besides Shikamaru, who thinks everyone is troublesome, especially women because his dad is tied to his mom's apron strings, which is true to his character.
As for norms, the anime and manga stuck to a strict path, more or less, of telling Naruto's story, sprinkling in details about how its power system worked and the history of the world as we went. We hear about shinobi rules and laws but don't really know any, for instance. Anything I add is merely to add depth or nuance that I think may be interesting.
Where you lose me is about motherhood and feminine traits. I don't think I've ever insinuated or otherwise said that either were bad. Mimi has talked about how being strong and smart is attractive over purely superficial traits and expectations of women recently, which is just who she is. I also don't think motherhood and feminine traits are abandoned because a woman has other opportunities in life to pursue a career. They may start later. They may not have kids at all. That's a personal choice, just as its a personal choice for a man to pursue a career and have a family. Or to pursue only a career. There's no right choice or right path in life. There's only the choices we make as individuals and the path we walk, and the consequences, rewards, scars and love we attain or find along the way. That's what I believe, anyway.
When i went back and watched the arc, after seeing how hard Rokusuke tried to reach Kanpachi, I decided I'd make them more than friends. It made his insistence and recklessness in trying to save Kanpachi, and refusal to think he was already dead, make more sense, since the other two didn't seem as connected.
Yep, Amari is bisexual. Ever since she saw Naruto's Sexy Jutsu and then met Haku I thought of it as an open secret among those in her personal life.
True, not everyone will follow Amari's way, but she's trying to find those who are willing to follow her. Mei and her followers had to challenge the norms to bring about a new Mist Village. Gaara had to redefine his bonds and challenge his Village's viewpoints to become a Kazekage who was cherished by others. Naruto had to do the same thing to become the hero of the Village, and along the way he drew others to him, just as Amari does.
I don't know if every new arc has brought in an original character who was abused by men. I don't think the last arc had any original characters, besides Amari and the gang and a few bad guys. Tsubaki was in the original arc and Mizuki struck her and manipulated her in the anime. The arc before that was the Fuma Clan, and the orphans—Biscuit, Scotch, Emi—were orphans in a sleazy town struggling to survive. Daisuke was a veteran of previous small wars and had lost everything and everyone he ever loved, and he wans't a powerful hero who could save everyone. He was just a normal guy, which was a way to show the effects of war and its tragic cost to all those involved in it. Sasame was tricked and struck by her Clansmen in the original arc, I'm pretty sure.
The arc before that was the Mist arc, I think. Which, as I mentioned, had men and women abusing men, women, boys and girls. A woman ran the upstairs portion of the Flower Shop Zabuza raided. Before that was the My Hero arc. Sound Four arc had Tayuya being forced to fight for survival and experimented and such on by Orochimaru, which is canon, and Kasai's return, but he is Amari's arch-nemesis. So I'm not sure what else to say about this matter in particular. There's no intent to make men or women specifically seem toxic or abusive. And the shinobi world is a cruel, harsh environment, so characters who live outside of the three of the five Great Nations are bound to be shaped by it. There's never a shortage of bandits or rogues in the series. It's sort of like the wild west outside of a shinobi village.
I'm trying to save some jutsus for Shippuden. Also I'm trying to tell better stories with fights rather than just use flashy new jutsus, that way characters can show off their current skills in smarter ways and characters who need growth can whip out new jutsus to show their progress, like Naruto and Sakura have.
Anyway, thanks for the review and hope you enjoy the newest update!