Itachi was tired. Aelita made sure of that, but she decided to sleep the night away after indulging her husband's desires. Truth be told, he could easily go for a fourth or fifth chance. He was surprised they weren't at child number 7 sometimes, but Aelita was smart and was cautious of him when he was too eager. She always had been ever since his interest in dating her had become apparent to his new acquaintances in Mokutotochi. He hoped to never forget the friends he made at his new home as he grew older. Jikan, Guramu, Kareshido, Warai, and Koroshita were his new family when he could not return to Konoha. They all knew before Aelita herself that Itachi had grown to love her, but that did not mean she was oblivious to his feelings. He made sure she knew through small gestures like brushing his fingers across her hand or being overly protective of her knowing full well she could kill him faster than he could kill her.
The seishin, he learned, were the assassins of assassins but they were also the most spiritual warriors hence their name. Itachi smiled, remembering when he used to get into so much trouble following Aelita to her home to learn more about her, and chuckled when Jikan and Warai stopped him every time. The frequent visits to the seishin territory even brought about the ronin and shinobi to stop him sometimes. When Warai realized Itachi was curious about Aelita, she was the one to explain that only a shinobi of their land was allowed to trek through the mountainside to speak to a seishin. At first, Itachi didn't care enough to become a shinobi again. He was already with the Akatsuki, and they had a grand task of gathering vassals of the beasts for their leader. He couldn't inform the villagers of this fact so he would leave behind little messages to whoever stopped him. Sometimes, he had to give them to the children who taught him the ways of their people.
For example, one day, Itachi remembered being so hungry that he decided to pluck an orange fruit from a ripening tree. He didn't have any money with him and he always hid near the temple in the forest where the warriors would meet. The little girl, Tsubomi, who told him to climb down the seishin tree popped him on his hand with a smooth stick and caught the fruit in her small hands.
[Flashback to twenty-four or so years ago...]
"Are you an idiot, mister shinobi?" Tsubomi asked, waving a finger at him. "You can't eat those fruits. They'll paralyze you! Wait here with Toran-kun. I'll get you something else if you're hungry."
"Man, mister shinobi, you've got a lot to learn about the forest," Toran said, scratching his scalp. "Those are mahi fruit. They taste really good, but you'll be awful sick if you eat more than a bite. It's almost like a poison. First, your head'll spin 'til you're dizzy; then, your breathing starts slowing down; then, you get cold and start turning blue; finally, you just stop moving until someone finds you and brings you a cure. Doctors mostly use that fruit to help patients."
"I'm back!" Tsubomi cheered, holding up a small plate of sushi. "It's not much but at least you won't get sick. Maybe you should come find us instead of hiding in the forest so much, mister. You're on sacred grounds, y'know. Trespassing in the forest can get you really hurt. I don't think Guramu-sama will be able to help you if you offend the grown-ups, especially the emperor here."
"Aren't you three always playing here?" Itachi questioned, eating one of the sushi rolls. "Don't your parents ever get mad at you?"
"We're allowed to go to the fountain since we're training to be warriors someday, but that's the end of the line for us," the unnamed child said, pointing to a large fountain standing before the temple. "But we can always play at the park on the other side of the mountain. That's where a lot of kids go. We like it over here, though. All of us get to look at our special tree."
"Which one of you plans to be a shinobi?" Itachi asked, raising a curious eyebrow.
"Me!" Toran exclaimed. "Tsubomi's gonna be a seishin, and Okan'll be a ronin! We're gonna be one team and meet at the temple for missions. One day, when we all become masters, we'll be in the emperor's army."
"Why do the samurai call themselves ronin if they follow a lord?"
"Oh, oh, I know this one! Pick me!" Okan declared, raising his hand. Itachi smirked and then nodded for the child to answer. Okan said, "All of the older samurai who live on the other side of the mountain once served a lord and was a great warrior in that lord's army, but, when the lord stops being a good leader or does something that goes against what a samurai believes is just, then that samurai fights against the lord and becomes a ronin. If a ronin finds their way to our village and accepts our way of life, his last name is changed and he is known as the ronin who left his lord for his own reason. If a ronin shares a similar story or name to one within our village, that ronin becomes part of a clan and trains under our system to become a new warrior. If he proves his worth to his clan, the emperor will meet with him and the ronin may choose to serve under the emperor or serve his clan. Until you accept the emperor as your lord, you will remain a ronin. The samurai in the emperor's army are the strongest fighters in the village and are legends in their own right."
"Is Guramu-sama a ronin?" Itachi asked.
"Yup! He's actually one of the toughest ones in the Nakama clan. Nakama is a shorter name for the samurai who were betrayed by a comrade: kare no nakama ni uragira," Okan answered, impressing Itachi with his knowledge. "The emperor came to Guramu-sama twice to offer him a spot in his army, but Guramu-sama loves his clan like family. I guess he's scared that if he becomes a samurai again then he won't see his family much. He's got the best team in the Nakama clan, too. Jikan-sama is a really powerful seishin, and Kareshido-sama is a great shinobi. It's rare to see them fight, but I hear no enemy is left undefeated when they do."
"What about that other woman, Uragirimono-sama?" Itachi asked, curious to know how strong the woman truly was since he already got a taste of Jikan's abilities. "How strong is she?"
"Oh, oh, I know!" Tsubomi replied, waving her arm to answer Itachi's question. "Uragirimono-sama is in the emperor's army. She defeated a samurai with the obi of her kimono to prove her strength to the Kazoku clan. The samurai's name is Koroshita. They both were asked to join the emperor's numbers and accepted the invitation. Koroshita-sama is still looking for a proper shinobi, though. Many apprentices are hoping he chooses them. Maybe you should think about it, mister shinobi. You look pretty strong, and you're always asking about Uragirimono-sama and the seishin. At least you'll earn enough money to buy food or Braille paper."
"Why would I need Braille paper?" Itachi asked.
"Ah, Uragirimono-sama is blind. You've been passing her messages she can't read," Toran said, making Itachi gasp in shock.
Itachi chuckled at the memory. His face had to have been priceless for those kids! The beautiful woman he had been trying to call out to meet with him couldn't even read his messages. It was no wonder she never responded to him. Aelita hummed lightly in a questioning tone as she shifted on her side to sleep. She opened her eyes for a moment, letting Itachi see her bleached brown eyes, and then closed them slowly letting her long eyelashes graze against the top of her cheeks. Before he joined his wife in sleeping wonders, he kissed Aelita's cheek and whispered "I love you" before walking to a desk to continue writing in his journal. He wondered how far he would get before sleep claimed him. They had to return home soon to check on the kids. While the two never left their children's side for too long, he had been in Konoha for almost a week and Aelita checked up on him every other day to make sure he was fine. Mokutotochi was actually quite far away and took almost a month just to walk there if you knew where you were going. He relied on Aelita's powers to get to any other village in less than a day.
Dearest brother, I believe Yuna is too young for this part of the story. Now that it is night and my wife asleep, I no longer feel censorship of my feelings for her. Aelita was, is, and always will be the most beautiful creature I ever laid eyes on. When she was chosen to be my escort through the village, the ronin called Guramu-sama and the shiboni whose name I never learned until I became a frequent visitor of Mokutotochi left us with the children who were still frightened by this new seishin but not nearly as much as Jikan; in fact, the little girl went up to her to hold her hand and embraced her cautiously. When Aelita felt the girl clinging to her legs, she kneeled down before her and embraced her sweetly with a light giggle. Her laugh was the sexiest thing I ever heard. If only I could see her face!
Aelita used to wear this straw hat wrapped in colored silks. It depended on the colors the seishin represented for the day. Sometimes they would wear red, sometimes blue, sometimes white, and sometimes green. Aelita wore a light green that day and a pink lipstick. The little girl showed me around the village some more, teaching me what she could of the village's history through the statues that decorated different pathways to different parts of their world, but my focus was disturbed by the woman with us. She was quite young and gentle and ethereal. It was hard to imagine this creature being a threat to anything, especially my life, but Jikan-sama trusted her to deal with me and she was strong in her own right. There was really no way of telling how strong Aelita truly was. I could, however, see her swords. Much like Jikan-sama, Aelita carried two special swords with distinct katakana symbols on the sheaths but there was a third sword with blurred writing along its sheath. She kept her hand on the hilt of this particular sword.
Lord Obito could possibly use this one within the Akatsuki if her skills were worthy was my first thought. The children loved her as they always held a conversation with her when the little girl was telling me about different things. She even showed me the housing district where different warriors chose to live with their families. I could see ronin warriors kissing their wives or patting their children's heads as they went out to walk around. The women were either ronin themselves or shinobi. I think I may have seen only one or two seishin at home, wiping their hands from some previous activity. Regular villagers who did not carry weapons were hard at work in the fields or at the market. Markings or scars from battle were plastered on their skin, but they seem to have retired from their past lives to take up a commoner's life. I wondered if it were more peaceful and fulfilling for them. I then wondered where Aelita and the children lived. Were they among the villagers or were they among the warriors hidden behind the mountains?
"Where do you all live in this village?" I asked. I suppose a certain boldness decided to spring up from my lips. They looked at me curiously as though I suddenly startled them with the question.
The little girl then chose to answer me first. She said, "I live in the first district with mommy and daddy. We're here now!"
"I live in the third district with my mom mostly," one of the boys replied. "My dad has to work near his clan a lot, so sometimes I don't get to see him. When he's home, he stays with us for a long time until he gets called out again."
"I stay with my dad in the second district," the other boy said. "My mom's a teacher in her clan, so she has to work a lot like Toran's dad. They kinda do the same thing when they come home. They stay until they've caught up with the world."
As I awaited the seishin's answer, I noticed she remained quiet. Her smile remained on her face as though she never heard the question. I assumed she thought I was simply asking the children, but I truly wanted to hear her answer. Suddenly, the idea of challenging her to a fight stirred within me. Not a malicious jabbing but a test of strength and power. When my eyes looked at the beauty, the children noticed I was staring at her.
The girl then spoke up and said, "Oh! Uragirimono-sama lives on the other side of the mountains. That's where you'll find the clans and soldiers."
"The shinobi and the seishin stay hidden until their lord or lady calls them for a mission. You can travel all over the village and not see a single shinobi or a single seishin," one of the boys replied. "That's if you travel on the other side. Here, you'll see them as regular people unless they're on patrol like Uragirimono-sama."
"Is she a mute?" I asked.
"No, I am not," the seishin finally said. You had never heard a more pleasant voice, brother! Her next few words, however, were exactly what I needed to believe she couldn't have been the woman for me. "My orders were to deal with you if I find your intentions are of malice. Socializing with you is not necessary for this task. From what I understand, you were found in the forest near our meeting grounds. I can smell the leaf from the seishin tree in your hair. Our tree is quite fragrant. When asked of your intentions, you refused to say in front of a respected ronin. That tells me you came here for something. From the way you actually smell, you've been searching for this something for a few days now. The smell of wood and ash is on your hands still, meaning you just recently sprung a camp somewhere in the distance. I will give you this last chance to explain yourself before expelling you from this land, Itachi Uchiha. What is your business here?"
I had never wanted to cuss at a woman so strongly before. Within that instant, only her outward beauty counted as something admirable. Her mouth was infuriating. What disgusted me the most was that smile. It never left her face. She was politely forcing me to talk! The kids backed away from us in that moment, worried for me it seemed and frightened of the seishin now. It was strange. A moment ago, Uragirimono-sama was this gentle beauty hidden beneath a straw hat who spoke delicately to the three children. As I stood face to face with her, she was so cold and so ominous. Two can play at that game, however, and I made sure to watch carefully at her abilities should a fight ensue. Sure enough, it came to blows.
I don't remember how we ended up outside of the village entirely. I remember the seishin coming at me before disappearing and punching me in the chest. Instinctively, I regained balance on my feet and instead of being met with the ground I was met with a large tree. Realizing we were in the forest somehow, I caught the seishin reeling her arm back for another punch and dodged her in time to watch her strike rip three trees from their roots almost a mile away from the first tree she struck! Her power could flow passed what was in front of her entirely and strike an enemy a great distance away! I didn't know if the seishin regarded things like chakra or chi as a source of power, but, for a shinobi, her ability to control her chakra in such a way was impressive. When her hand left the tree she struck, there wasn't a dent on it. Yes, she would make a powerful Akatsuki member if she were properly convinced, but I had to see more of her strength. What kind of shinobi would she be if left the seishin and their system?
I asked her, "Have you ever considered being a shinobi, Uragirimono-sama?"
She remained still for a moment, reached into her shirt, and pulled out a sash. The wind blew a soft breeze and her perfume reached my nose. If I were just a regular man, I might've succumbed to her scent alone. Could you imagine it, little brother? Itachi Uchiha, the boy who single-handedly destroyed his own family, out buying every gift conceived by the human imagination for a woman he doesn't even know but is far too frequently seduced by? Strangely enough, I considered her earlier words. I probably did smell like hell compared to her. My neck started itching the moment I thought about it. When you're around men for a long time, no one really cares how the other smells unless it's just plain unbearable. You sit three seconds next to a woman? She runs to the nearest bath house with a clothespin clenching her nose shut. In my case, the woman tells you how smelly you are and tries to take your head off.
She then said to me, "No. My only interest is getting rid of one."
That was the last thing I heard her say before she disappeared again to attack. I anticipated it this time, but I didn't expect to be wrapped in her sash like a corpse in a body bag and transported to a river! How were the seishin that fast? Her sash wreaked of perfume. It smothered me to near death, I'm afraid. When water started rushing to my nose and mouth as I was struggling to get out of the sash, I used my weapons to cut the stupid wrapping open. It was ridiculously thick! I swam to the surface quickly, gulping in every molecule of air I could, and looked around for the clever bitch. Angry didn't begin to cover what I felt for her. Alas, she wasn't anywhere nearby. The bitch was going to just drown me and leave me floating in the river! Did I not deserve an honorable death? Her reputation was validated now, though. She defeated a samurai with an obi and a shinobi with a sash. She was certainly faster than Jikan-sama, that was certain. I made it my mission to drown that woman when I found her, little brother. When we had a proper fight, her nose would be wrapped in the sweatiest sash I can muster and her head completely under water until I couldn't see the air bubbles anymore!
Though she was quite capable as an Akatsuki member, I didn't want her to be part of us. She knew her place as a warrior, and the shinobi in that village were far too devoted to their leaders, clans, and to each other to want to be part of us, too. The shinobi who knew my surname never left the ronin's side when the seishin tried to attack me. Others like him would never join the Akatsuki of their own will and would probably rather die than be forced into it. There was no hope there. No one in that village would come to us. Even the children, the easiest to manipulate, aspired to be like their predecessors and would probably never seek power from us just to be ahead of the ranks. It was frustrating to me. This village had its own system, brotherhood, and way of life not easily corrupted by just some stranger or some ancient power. Why did our village have something different? Why was our family bent on overthrowing our system or our way of life?
As I climbed out of the river water, thinking to myself and wondering what was different between us and them, I caught sight of Aelita's sash. I walked to it without a second thought and reached into the waters to retrieve it once it got caught onto a branch embedded in a rock. The sash was so soft and still had her fragrant perfume on its fibers. Even though I didn't want her to be with the Akatsuki, I still thought she would be a valued asset to us. I didn't want her to fight amongst us, but I still wanted her nearby or allied with us. It was strange. Using her sash, I cleaned myself up and listened to the currents traveling through the forest. Her scent forever coating my skin until the day I either returned it or someone else found it and returned it to her. I believe that is where our beginning starts. Not with the fight, not with entering Mokutotochi, not with the meanings behind every statue and every tree and every building within the village, not with the three warrior systems, but with the cleansing. Renewal of oneself through the purifying of one's spirit.
The seishin... were truly remarkable...
That's all one can say of these warriors. I end my journal entry with this for tonight. My beloved spirit is sleeping and so shall I. Three chances were enough.
