All day long, the castle was in disarray.

The king had gone to bed the night before believing that his wife would be late to bed, but when morning arrived and her side was still empty, her side of the bed still neatly made as if she'd never been back, his panic rose.

All day long he'd been questioning staff as to where she'd gone, and nobody could placate him. The maids hadn't seen her, the ladies-in-waiting only recalled seeing her yesterday (just before their fight), and worse still, a few of the guards reported seeing her in the castle, but never afterwards.

Shien had never seen him so panicked before, and it was disquieting.

"Have you seen my wife?" He'd asked her once, wringing his hands. His usually-stoic expression was crumbling, desperation alarmingly clear in his eyes. "Have you seen Mikoto?"

Sadly, she hadn't; not since lunch the day prior. His posture had slackened somewhat, but he'd thanked her and had moved on. Later on, both Naruto and Sasuke grimly reported that he'd asked them the same question, and Sasuke lamented his father's panic. Ever since he'd almost lost his son at Morino, the mere thought of not knowing where either he or his wife were was terrifying to the poor man.

"Part of that was my fault," Shien thought guiltily. "I can't believe I had a hand in traumatizing Sasuke's dad. I feel horrible."

Both Sasuke and Naruto were worried for his mother. Sasuke argued that if she hadn't been seen in the castle, she must have left, and Naruto worried that rioters might have gotten ahold of her. They were ready to go after her, but Fugaku told them to hold back until he got more news. Sasuke wasn't satisfied with it, but Naruto understood and reassured him that they could go looking later.

Fugaku was scared that he had taken her - he knew that he was on thin ice by blatantly refusing to do anything about the small faction of people still alive at Morino, but he hadn't thought that it would be a big enough deal for him to punish him like this. He knew the man was unstable, what with his obsession with crushing Mimei and Akatsuki - as well as rooting out any traitors and making an example of them for the public's eyes - but to think that his dear wife could have been his next target…

Some of the servants attempted to placate him. "Don't worry," they tried to reassure him, "she probably took a walk. She'll be back soon, you'll see."

But he knew better. It had been nearly an entire day and she was still missing. They'd gotten into spats before; every couple does. Even Minato and Kushina, while they were still alive, had their moments. But he knew her well enough to know that if she really had gone for a walk to clear her head, she would've been back and offering to talk it out. His wife was many things: a skilled warrior, a beautiful woman, a wonderful mother - but she was not the type to go silent for this long.

Shien herself was worried for other reasons - if the queen was still missing, there was a chance that someone had let it slip about the rebels in the forested area around the city gates. If she had heard, somehow, about the rebels camping outside the city, then perhaps the 'walk' she was taking was to slay them all - and nobody would be any wiser to it until she had come back with her entire found family slaughtered. Her wartime identity was still an open secret among those who had known her before the era of peace that was Fugaku's rule - her parents told solemn stories in her youth of the deadly White Lily, a woman rumored to have wiped out hundreds of enemy soldiers in just minutes. The same White Lily that had all but disappeared once Fugaku was crowned, at the same time that Mikoto had married him. Even now at the right moments, one could see remnants of her maiden identity in her eyes.

Her heart ached to think of Tsunade being overpowered; as much as she knew Mikoto was outmatched toe-to-toe with her, if she managed to get the drop on her there was no telling what could happen. What if Tsunade was drunk? What if she was sleeping off a night of drinking and nobody was able to warn her in time? What if she managed to hide her presence enough to get a good shot at her from the underbrush?

She didn't realize just where her feet had taken her in her blind worry until she was standing in the castle's empty chapel. The life sized statue of Madara stared disdainfully down at her with lifeless metal eyes, and she found herself glaring right back.

Instead of focusing on the man's feared visage, she turned instead to the mural of the gods above her - Kaguya, the moon goddess, and Isshiki, the sun god, circling one another in a perpetual yin-yang. Just as the sun and moon revolved around the earth, so would the two gods take their turns watching over humanity.

Shien fell to her knees before the altar, hands clasped together and shaking desperately.

She took a trembling breath before she spoke, quiet and fervent. "Oh gods, please hear my prayers. Please watch over my family. Keep them safe in all endeavors, and return them to me."

"I beg that you watch over Mikoto-san," she continued, her eyes clenched shut and her head bowed. "In the short time I've been here I've come to see her as a mother, and I care for her deeply. Please return her to the castle in all haste."

"Though I don't have a physical offering, all I can offer to you is myself. I don't know how I can be of service to you, but I humbly offer myself nonetheless."


Unbeknownst to her, she was not alone in the little chapel.

Behind a door, a shadowy figure watched as she prayed, tears streaming down her face.

His eyes were alight in fascination, and as he cupped his chin he mused to himself.

"She's a lovely girl, just like Sasuke's girl used to be," he hummed. "But could it be? This soothing chakra, this familiar peace…?"

"Why, she reminds me so much of my angel," he sighed, watching as she brushed away her tears and gazed at the mural. "Not only her spirit, but in her determination."

Her sweet face entered his mind, and his thoughts slowly devolved into those surrounding her.

Murmuring her name under his breath in a desperate whisper, he disappeared - back to his tower, where he would need to plan further. Mikoto's absence had been a real spanner in the works, but if he took some time he would surely be able to steer things back around to where they needed to be.

"My angel," he sighed to himself, wrapping his arms about himself in a facsimile to her embrace. "Oh, my angel. How I miss you dearly."


A/N: FOREWARNING: The next chapter involves violence and blood/gore. Moreso than any of the last chapters. If any of you like, I can include a TLDR at the start of chapter 92 recapping the important events so you don't have to read if that's too traumatizing for you.

Take care of yourselves, and please tell me what you thought.