Part 4 in the Obelisk Series:
Kingdom of Man, Kingdom of Beasts, Kingdom of Monsters, and Kigdom of Gods.
OBELISK:
KINGDOM OF GODS
A girl is told she is nothing. She hums into the soft dark - just wait,till I come back & eat you bare…till your heart cries blue, till your bones are fear
— Scherezade Siobhan, log #1
(Published in The Undertow Review)
Sakura doesn't touch the food once and makes no move to pretend to. She sits with her hands on her knees, curled into fists that turn white at the knuckles when she feels the eyes on her become too obvious. The first few minutes pass painfully slow.
She closes her eyes and tries to listen to their side chatter, but only one ear works well enough to catch anything, and none of it makes sense. Thankfully, not too much of it is about her, of if it is, she doesn't realize it. She glances down at the tray of food by her side and the small wooden box set beside it. The food was untouched but she knew she would have to use the box later on. Inside lay her Obelisk, mostly white with only one part still gleaming with Obsidian.
Her hand twitched when she heard someone whisper her name, and then she grew uncomfortably attuned to any mention of a 'her' or 'she' in the conversations around her. The topics had shifted. More and more of the conversation had turned to her. Someone said something about her face and she remembered how ugly her bruises seemed. Their eyes felt heavier. She was drowning.
"Enough!"
It's Danzo's stern voice that reigns in the conversations around him. It's like breaking the surface of a lake, air sweet and new in her lungs. For a moment the eyes fall away from her and settle on the man who seems too calm and collected to be shaken by their attention. She's thankful to this man, for the moment he gives her.
"It has been over a century since we our families were called together for such a reason. Never in any of our lifetimes have we been faced with such a predicament, nor in any of our previous assemblies." He speaks with authority, and the very wood of the room leans in to his words, listening.
When he turns his face to her the room turns with him, and all the eyes are back on her again. "We would be remiss if we did not begin with proper deference, least we forget our standing in all this."
He lays the palms of his hands down on the wood in front of him, fingers touching, and bows low enough that his face rests against his fingers, a sigh of upmost respect that makes Sakura suddenly feel young and out of place. She knows enough to know that an elder, someone of his age and respect, should never bow like that to someone like her, someone so young with so little importance in the world.
It is a beat later before the rest of the heads in the room bend, some more willing than others. Even Jugo from his seat behind her, brushes the side of her leg and he bends his head down to the floor in a formal bow. It's almost as stifling as the eyes and Sakura doesn't know what to do.
"Please," she whispered, fearing they have stayed down too long. "Don't."
The heads all rise back up, some faster than others, but Danzo's is the last to lift from the floor, and he does so I such a manner that his face never turns up to her until he is back in his sitting position.
The female elder mades a sound of discontentment. "She is a child who knows not the importance of this, nor of us. If you were smart you would have started with introductions, Danzo." The woman set her glare on Sakura and nodded. "I am Koharu, Utatane Koharu."
One by one the members in the room introduced themselves, even Genma and Yamato. Aside from Danzo, the other male who looked as old as Koharu and seemed to hold as much self importance and respect called himself Homura Mitokado. Jugo's grandfather addressed himself as Log, even though Sakura had been calling him 'pop' the way Jugo did all during her stay.
"We will begin with the questioning then," the old man Homura said, eyeing Danzo before looking down the room to where Sakura sat. "How did you first access the Obelisk?"
"It was left behind in a box of old Avon perfume bottles. It was the only one that looked like a puzzle so I set it aside. After solving the puzzle I opened it, not expecting anything of it."
There was an agitated murmur and Sakura shifted uncomfortably. Log leaned forward to answer her unasked question. "We were present when your grandmother buried the Obelisk in a safe under my very own orchard not far from where you woke up. It shouldn't have been in her house."
"The seals didn't hold," one of the younger elders barked in annoyance. "And now we have this mess to deal with again. Who else could even begin to bind in place such a thing?"
Sakura knew well enough that the Obelisk would show up without warning whenever she moved sleeping places. Even if she left it behind in one house, it would be beside her when she woke up in a different home. Whatever magic let it do that must have put it in the Avon box where she found it.
"There will be time for that later you old goat. Sakura san," Kaharu called to the younger woman. "How long have you been partaking in the trials?"
"Two years."
There was another ripple of whispers and concerned voices.
"Who else knew of your situation?" another voice asked.
Sakura felt a pull of irritation in the back of her jaw as she strained to hold back the sass of a sarcastic comment. "I told no one. I didn't believe what I saw when I dreamed myself for a long while. I figured it wasn't worth telling anyone else because it was too unbelievable and I didn't want to end up in a loony bin."
"Did you know what it was when you opened it?"
"No. I never referred to it as the Obelisk trials until this past month. I referred to it as the curse, because that was what I believed it was. The dreams were trying to kill me."
They asked her about her age, where she was living, what she was doing for school, where she worked, all things about her life that made her feel even more like a fish in a glass bowl. It seemed as if they wanted to make it look like they cared about her, but all Sakura wanted was her privacy back. This was worse than some of the things she had to do in the dream world.
"That's enough of that," the grumpy old man Homura said, folding his hands over his chest. "The Obelisk. You have it here?"
Sakura touched the box by her knees. "I do."
"How far have you gotten in the two years you've been a part of the trials?"
"What do you think?" Sakura dryly intoned, pulling the box onto her lap and feeling drained. The tone of his question felt like a hand that pushed her down, and Sakura had too much fight in her not to push back. "I mean, you are taking bets on that, right?"
With bitterness Sakura notes a couple of faces turned away while others looked offended at her tone. Homura's stare was simmering while Danzo remained unreadable. Kaharu sighed, tapping the floor. "We forget ourselves. Apologies, Sakura san. We understand this must be trying for you. Your grandmother never told you of our existence and the trails are no small mercy to complete. Will you please show us the Obelisk?"
Sakura softened, hands curling around the lid of her box. It came off easily enough and the Obelisk was set deep into the velvet outline. She heard more murmurs of anticipation, but it was when she set the Obelisk down on the floor in front of her, and turned it around that the room really began to buzz out of control.
One of the men almost stood up from his seat, he was so shocked. Another two began to talk loudly. Hands rose in the air as Kahura tried to get the group to sit back down and quiet. Someone called it a scam and another insulted Log for calling them all in.
"Enough!" the room was a vacuum without sound in the wake of Danzo's voice. It had been different before, now his words were steel tipped, harsh and cutting. He looked around the quiet room once more and then repeated the command. "That is enough. This is not the first time a dreamer has breached the Kingdom of Gods."
"But in two years?" another voice pipped up. Danzo glared hard and the man shrank backwards.
Log spoke up, voice not as sharp as Danzo's, but just as demanding of authority. "None of you were alive during the years of the cull when men and even women were called into the Obelisk on a near monthly basis. We have records of that time. There are accounts of men entering the Kingdom of Monsters in a years time. Two years for the Kingdom of Gods is impressive, but not unheard of."
"No offense, but Sakura chan is no Madara Uchiha," Homura spoke up, unfazed by the glares of Log or Danzo.
"Was Madara the man who made it all the way to the end?" Sakura asked, speaking up.
Danzo blinked, almost surprised by her question. It is Log who answers her question.
"No, that was a different child, but Madara did make it to the last Kingdom. He was unable to slay any of the gods there, however. He is impressive to note because his time in the dream was…accelerated. He reached the Kingdom of Monsters in one year and two months, but then he stayed in that kingdom for two years after that, drunk and happy."
"How do you know of Madara Uchiha?" Danzo asks, gaining her attention again.
"He was an actor in the Kingdom of Monsters." Sakura notes the stares around the room and shifts. "Why is that so shocking? All the failed dreamers became actors, didn't they?"
Log answers her, "Most, yes. But actors who did not progress far and who have weak souls are lost to the Obelisk over time and do not reappear as actors. Madara Uchiha died in the dream many centuries ago, but never has another dreamer ever recorded witnessing him in the dream, thought many assumed he would be a popular if not frequent actor. But you saw him…?"
"What was he like?" one of the younger voices asks her, and Sakura can't ignore the note of awe. She thinks back to the mural in the tombs of Madara standing atop piles of dead, nearly godlike on his own. Then she thinks of how he hovered over her, pushed her into the thick fur of the polar bear rug alongside the fire, red eyes spinning.
"There will be another time for those details!" Kahura snaps, glaring at the younger man. "There are other things that must be discussed first, such as what we are to do to support or save the dreamer from her trials."
Sakura feels something in her spine that feels almost like fear, but before she can ask Log raises his hand and speaks. "Sakura has expressed a wish not to exit the trials. She was knowing of the method but still adamant in her decision."
"Of course she would be," Homura coughs. "She's made it to the Kingdom of the Gods, who would quit now?"
"No one has ever survived this thing," Kahura fired back. "Of course exit should still be an option. Have you forgotten why we were formed in the first place, why our ancient families rebelled over a century ago?"
"Oh my God, I can't believe they're talking about this in front of me like this," Sakura whispered to herself, but Jugo heard her.
"I don't think it's our decision," Danzo gruffly stated. "And she's made up her mind. Let that be the end of it."
Kahura looked between Sakura and Danzo, glancing at Genma and Yamato. "It's not like she wouldn't have options. It wouldn't necessarily be unpleasant. Your boys are understanding, Danzo."
Jugo stiffened from behind Sakura when he noticed the elder woman's stare and Sakura felt her gut roll once more as others began to chime in. Everyone seemed to have an opinion on how she should handle her self in bed or how experienced she already was, or how she should choose a partner from one of their homes. Sakura wanted to puke at some of their assumptions, thrown out so carelessly, as if she weren't in the room sitting right there.
"That's enough," Sakura said standing. "I'm done here."
Log started to stand as well, reaching heads up in an effort to be placating. He started to talk to her, to ask her to come back, but Sakura was already walking out. She didn't care how rude she was being or who paid for her hospital bills. Even as she was walking towards the door and Jugo rose to follow her, someone made a comment about how she had already chosen her consort.
Sakura froze in front of the threshold. Ice filled her veins and the sensation of dreaming was fresh in her memory. Her breaths were heavy and even, slowing down the world around her.
"I have nearly been devoured alive by wolves, gut by dream killers, buried in bones, drowned at the hands of tailed beasts, and seen far too many of my friends, actors I've grown to care for, die again and again and again."
Stiffly Sakura turned back to the group. Her words are sharp and when she speaks them she is almost afraid they will cut her lips on their way out.
"I have spend every night for the last two years worried, wondering if this will be the night I never wake up again. Is this the night they finally kill me? But I'm here now, looking like this with an ear that might never hear again, because I killed a crawling god in the last kingdom of this damn curse! I killed it."
Her stressed words are heavy in the room as all eyes wait and watch. She knows she's confessing to doing things they hadn't expected to hear about. But they're not Sai, the person who believed in her, the person who told her they knew she would be the one to make it to the end. None of them believed in her, even if a few seemed curious enough to let her try and get as far as she could. Their shock over her having made it to the last kingdom was proof enough how little they believed in her.
"So don't you dare talk about me like I'm some sort of problem for you all to take care of and make a vote on who gets to fuck me for a way out of this curse. I'm not going to hear another word on that from any of you. I don't care how long you've been watching this curse. I've lived it, bleed and suffered in it till I thought it would be better to just never wake up again. I've killed too much and too many times to think I own any of you the respect you've refused me just now."
She pauses only a moment longer, letting her words sink in before turning on her heel and heading back out the door. She pulls it open harshly and the screen door slams into the post before jumping back, but Sakura has already slipped through and is storming back to her room.
Jugo doesn't call out to her, or say anything, but he keeps up with her steps, pressing in closer when he notices how she shakes outside the door to her room. Her hands are lost in internal earthquakes and she has to hiss her breaths out between her teeth to steady the shakes of her body.
"They're assholes," he says, waiting beside her.
The shaking subsides but there is still the ghost of tremors tingling under her skin. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, pretty much," she sighed.
A moment of silence passes and then Jugo leans forward so she can hear his lowered voice. "What you said back there, about…not wanting to wake up again…"
"Forget it."
"No, I can't. I'm sorry, I knew things were bad and I know you told me to stop apologizing for it, but please let me. Please let me. I'm sorry, so sorry. I'm sorry you're hurting even now. I'm sorry that they added to your pain just now. You don't deserve it. You never deserved it. Of all the people I've known, you never deserved any of this."
"Who does?" Sakura shakes her head, remembering how she thought the curse was a punishment for so long before realizing it was a trail set up for wannabe gods. "I'd not wish it on anyone else."
"I-I wish I could help you. I wish I could take this burden from you, but I'm helpless. You don't deserve this, Sakura," Jugo says, sounding like he's given up.
Her breath is shaky, but she's steady enough to reach out and touch his wrist, holding it until he lifts his head to look at her. She drops his wrist to turn around and face him fully, shoulders squared back.
"That's a nice thought, and I'm thankful you care for me so much, but that's not what I need right now. Please let me be honest with you. I know it's a shitty situation, I know the Obelisk is rough, but I think I can do it. I believe I can achieve what no other has yet achieved. Sai believes in me, and I believe in me. I don't need anyone else trying to save or pity me. Please, just believe in me and support me. That's all I'll ever need, and more than I dare deserve."
"Of course I believe in you, if anyone could it would be you." He shuffles a bit. "But what about Karin or Ino? Wouldn't they be better confidants?"
"I wouldn't. They'd just think I'm crazy, like my mother. It would be nice, but that can't happen. Jugo I have no one else I trust that I can share this with."
"You can trust me." When he lifts his head his shoulders are just as squared as hers. He opens his mouth to say something but another voice interrupts him. They both turn to see Yamato jogging down the porch. Behind him, Genma lazily strolls.
"Sakura," Yamato calls to her, stoping just short of the pair. "Wait, I wanted to talk to you. I'm sorry. I didn't know what was going to happen back there. I didn't even know it was you we were coming to see until just now."
Behind him, Genma slides up and waves. "But it does make a lot of sense, you know. Being as depressed as you were. You know I was worried for a while there. Not that I have reason to, what with you being a badass and all." He leans in a little closer, grin stretching across his face. "I'm also still up for banging with protection if you ever need stress relief."
Yamato shut his eyes for a moment, trying to not find Genma annoying while Jugo sputtered at the suggestion. Sakura reached out and smacked Genma across the face and he whines through a laugh when she begins to beat on his back and arms.
Sakura woke to the sounds of retching. One of the men in the far cells was sick, spilling his guts to the floor. Sakura wrinkled her nose and scooted to the far corner of her cell. There was early light filtering in through the small windows towards the top of the far walls, letting her know that it was morning. They would be taken out soon, and marched to wherever it was people go to get judged.
Kankuro from yesterday is still asleep, but he moves slightly, shifting in his sleep as his eyes rove behind his eye lids. The paint on his face is still there, but it has since become smudged in places where sweat has broken it up. Baki was gone and there was no sign of him left behind.
"Lovely," one of the guards sigs before turning and heading back up the stars.
Moments later the guard returns with a handful of gold colored cloth, followed by Darui and the blond man called Shi from yesterday. The sight of the new guards was enough to make the retching man try and sit up alongside the other youth that had been dragged in. Sakura noticed a change in the chain prisoner as well.
Shi turns his nose up at the two celled together and waves them away. "They're too much of a mess to bring forth today. Another night in the cells will be better to help them settle. We have enough with just these three."
The guard separated the cloths in his hand and Sakura realizes they are hoods, pained gold and decorated with a bright turquoise green seal. The chained prisoner is brought forward, wrangled and beat behind the knees before he allows himself to be hooded. Once the fabric has be stretched across his face Sakura can see the symbol painted in the middle is an eye.
The guard holds two more hoods ready as Sakura stands, ready to be taken out. The go for Kankuro first, rousing him with water on his upper half, smearing even more of his face paint. He curses but doesn't fight like the other prisoner. As the prepare to drop the hood over his head he looks sideways into her cell and smiles, winking before the hood blocks his vision.
Sakura doesn't fight when they come for her, but inclines her head and waits for the hood. The guard hesitates at her non-aggression, but quickly places the cloth over her, blocking her sight. Only shadows and rays of light filter through the weave of the cloth around her head.
Sakura is led up stairs and into another cart, but wherever the cart takes them it is not exposed to daylight. They are underground at times, and far from markets. Sakura feels the cart pitch to the side sharply and they are rising up. Noises grow louder and the smell of dust is mixed in with spices and the sweat of labor as they take the road out. As they roll by Sakura can't hear exactly what is said, but she understands the tone of the murmurs and whispers as they pass.
Sakura closes her eyes and waits as the cart rolls on, agitated about being kept from Sai, but not as angry or rash as she had been yesterday. Sai was smart, smarter than even her. He knew more about the world he was in that she did and he was far older and more clever than she was giving him credit for. She ached to be with him again, and missed him terribly, but she needed to believe in him. She needed to trust he was safe and he could take care of himself without her having to rush in a save him. Still, it was impossible not to miss him. He was her friend, after all.
"Here!" a voice barked.
Seconds later the cart stopped on a jerk and Sakura felt a body shift to bump her as they were jostled in the cart. His hands were tied again, but Kankuro reached for her, feeling her wrist to make sure it was her and not the other prisoner. Blind as she was she could almost feel his grin and wanted to roll her eyes.
Sakura heard more talk from the guards and the latch to their cart was jerked down. She was tugged forward first, having been the one loaded last. Kankuro comes close behind and then the third prisoner has to be dragged by two new guards.
"The High Priestess herself is here for this. Pretty high profile, is it?" one of the new voices asks.
"High enough," Shi says, leading the group forward. "Though some more so than others."
Sakura doubts he thinks of her as high profile, but that sparks her interest in the other two prisoners. She knows Kankuro is an actor, and the other guy was always in chains and struggling, but she didn't know what made them so important. Kankuro said he killed a man and didn't regret it, but what about the other guy? Did it matter? What about her, did they think she was high profile enough to deserve the special audience? She suspected that was the other reason the two drunks had been left behind in the cells.
Someone brushes her arm and Sakura knows it is Kankuro, even though she is still blind behind the bag. Moments later they are stopped and pulled apart. She hears grunts and then something falling to the ground. Kankuro is told to kneel by a guard the same time Darui approaches her and whispers in her ear to do the same. She complies without a struggle.
At once their hoods are pulled off and deposited alongside their knees as they kneel, all facing the same steps leading up to a platform guarded by gauzy white drapes that flutter between the columns. A woman stands in between them all, holding an ankh between her hands, long and golden. Her dress is white and flowing, but does nothing to hide the idealistic shape of her body, ample with curves. Her expression is stern, accented only by the white hood that hides her hair and sets off the black lines around her eyes.
She is an actor, but not one Sakura has ever seen before.
The high priestess opens her mouth and speaks in a way Sakura knows she is reciting. "The Court that judges the wretch, you know they are not lenient. On the day of judging the miserable, in the hour of doing their task, it is painful when the accuser has knowledge. Do not trust in length of years, they view a lifetime in an hour!"
A pair of younger girls, each dressed head to toe in white rush forward to the base of the steps, holding boxes in their hands. She waves to the girls and they open their boxes but do not remove whatever lies inside.
"Speak their sins for judgement," the noble woman demands of the guards.
Darui steps forward and bows low before gesturing to Sakura. "She of no house was found by the ruins of the wild god's tomb. By her own tongue she has confessed her trespass and has offered up what she knows of highlighted events."
Sakura feels even more eyes on her, including Kankuro's.
"I have heard your reports and know her story. And the others?"
Shi steps forward, bows low and points to Kankuro. "The noble Kankuro killed established merchant Gato of Greece, confessed his actions freely, and did not resist arrest."
The priestess does not even look at Kankuro, but has her eyes set on the last guard and his prisoner. "And the last one?"
"Beliz, known spy for the King of the Thieves was caught at the Lion's Garrison, avoided arrest, and killed six men before capture. He has been interrogated and divulged minimal information, not including his objective for information on the activities of the tomb of the wild god."
"Does he admit his guilt?"
"No."
"Has he anything to say for himself?"
The guard prods the man and he spits on the floor. "Bite me, bitch."
Sakura can hear Kankuro groan as she herself inwardly winces.
The woman nods to the first girl and she pulls out a golden stand from her box. The other girl pulls out a set of scales to set atop the stand and together they assemble the weighing scales to hold between them. Coming down the stars the High Priestess sets her golden ankh on one said and stands back.
"The cost of life is a heavy weight. We will judge to see if you deserve it." She holds up her hand and Sakura can't help but admire her nails, perfectly polished and clean. "I will now weigh your heart."
"Isn't that going to kill him, if she removes the heart?" Sakura hisses, looking back over her shoulder at Darui. The guard only shakes his head and points to the struggling prisoner, urging her to watch. From beside her, Kankuro is grinning while the woman begins to chant.
The woman's beautiful hand sinks into the man's chest, nary a drop of blood or skin set out of place, and he screams as she reaches into him, stretching out, tugging at something. When she brings her hand back there is no gore. In her palm she holds a stone, or something that looks like a stone. She breaths a little deeper before depositing the glowing stone on one side of the scale. At once the stone pulls down the golden disks in it's direction, appearing heaver, but then the golden Ankh begins to tug the scales on it's side down, down, down until they are even. There is a final wobble before the man's heart rises upward, lighter and less weighted.
"This man has refused the feather of truth, refused to admit his guilt. Thus he has been judged with his life and the gods have found it forfeit." She turns graciously towards the prisoner who looks like he just had his stomach emptied after a long night of drinking. "You have taken many lives. If you wish to absolve yourself of this before your journey into the afterlife the priests will pray and offer sacrifices in exchange for information. You will die, but in death will you find the rolling hills, or the teeth of the devourer for all eternity?"
His heart stays on the scale before she turns to Kankuro and sighs. "I will deal with you last." Next she sets her eyes on Sakura and moves to stand before her. "You have not struggled and you have not refused confession. Speak truth to me now. Why were you at the tombs of the wild god?"
Sakura watches as the woman removes a red feather from inside her dress, the stem dipped in gold. She holds it over Sakura and waits. Sakura gets the impression she shouldn't lie while under what she assumes is some version of the feather of truth, held by the goddess of ancient Egypt Maat.
"I was there with my companion, Sai. We spent several days in the tombs, solving puzzles and learning. On the walls of the tombs there are histories."
"Forbidden histories," a voice from the sides hisses out.
"Silence," the high priestess commands, eyes blazing. With a nod two other guards trikes the man down and he falls to the ground in a low bow that he does not rise from. Still angered, the woman turns back to Sakura. "What else?"
"Theres is a curse…that must be broken. A part of the curse's undoing was believed to be in that tomb, which is why we were there. I don't know what is and what isn't forbidden to you people, I am new to these lands. I came from many places and traveled very far to undo this curse. It's also why I need to find my friend. We were separated. Men dressed in blue with a bird on their masks came and took him from the tomb. Please, I need to get back to him."
"Did you see the god? Did you see who killed the god. That is what we need to know," the priestess says, but her voice is not as cruel or firm as it had been when she talked to the other prisoner.
Sakura closed her eyes, knowing in her heart she shouldn't tell them she had killed the gods. It was better if they underestimate her, but she couldn't lie.
"I remember seeing it." Sakura kept her eyes closed, as if she was trying to remember the scene. "It was huge and crawling and it never seemed to end. It screamed and my ears bled. I still can't hear out of one of them. I….I was hurt. I remember laying on the stones, some of them had fallen down from the ceiling, and I remember lying there, watching Sai pull a dagger out of the body. I remember him standing on the husk of the god, broken and bleeding gold and ink. Sai's blade was black from where he pulled it out of the god."
And as deceptive as Sakura was trying to be, she couldn't hide the way her body trembled at the memory, just a bit. But more than the terror, the thought of loosing Sai scared her even more and she felt that fear in her throat when she pleaded once more.
"Did he kill the god?"
Sakura shook her head. "No, it was already dead when Sai pulled the dagger from its body. I know it wasn't him, but that's what it looked like to the men who took us." Sakura lifted her head. "Please, they took him but I need to get him back. I'm sorry about trespassing, I didn't know that was a crime when we were down there. But please, he's my friend-the only soul I know in this world."
The woman pulled the feather back to her chest and took a step back, away from Sakura. "You spoke truth, but this does not help us. The boy you spoke of was indeed captures by the Lesser Pharaoh and escaped in the same night after being examined. There were no god slaying marks on his body and the let him go for that no doubt. I'm sorry, there is no help we can give you for your troubles."
Sai had escaped? Something fluttered in her chest and Sakura felt relieved to hear about Sai's escape, but more than relief made her heart light. She felt proud for her friend. He was smart and brave and crafty all on his own.
"But still, the forbidden knowledge was forbidden for a reason. More than trespassing, this is not a thing I can ignore."
Sakura's good feeling sank. 'Shit.'
"I must judge you for this." She looked behind her and nodded to the two girls. "Ready the scales."
"What for?" Kankuro called out. "You don't know what she knows. What if she's dumb and doesn't know anything. You didn't even-"
"Shut up!" she seethed rounding on the other male. "I have had it up to here with you. This is the third time this month you have been in this room and no one is pleased for it. I don't care how much of a hero you claim to be, I'm not even going to deal with you this time. Your Pharaoh will be in the audience for that."
Kankuro paled slightly. "Ugh, he's going to be here for that?"
"No," a deafening boom cut through the room as three shadows stepped up behind the curtains at the top of the stairs. Two attendants pulled apart the drapes and a pale man dressed in a white skirt with gold braces across his chest and forearms. A white crown sat atop his head. The Pharaoh of Upper Egypt.
The room fell to their faces in an instant, faster than anyone's ever seen a people bow before. Even Kankuro and the High Priestess were equally swift in their decent to the ground. Only Sakura and the half alive prisoner remained, but Darui pushed Sakura down to bow like everyone else while the other prisoner was beat into position.
"I am here now, Kankuro. You've made trouble for our sister one too many times."
'Our sister?' Sakura thought the choice of words odd. It was hard to tell if they looked like as everyone was wearing makeup and covers over their hair.
"Pharaoh, it is no trouble at all to promote justice in your lands."
The Pharaoh waved her off as if her words were a both before commanding the delegation to rise. He started down the stairs but stopped halfway, watching the group watch him. Nearly all eyes were still downcast. "Than carry on if you can, Temari, I would like to witness this."
"If it so please you, but your safety is our highest concern. Please watch from where you stand and I will continue."
"As you say," the man who looked more like a boy intoned.
Shakily she stood and then nodded to the girls. The one removed the heart that was still on the scales and ran it back to the prisoner. She pushed it back into his chest with a squeak before running back to help the other girl support the scales. Kankuro looked up from where he was kneeling to watch his sister approach Sakura with wide eyes. His black hood had been pushed back and tuffs of sandy brown hair stood out.
Then several things happened at once.
Temari stood in front of Sakura and raised her clean hand. Sakura braced for when it would slide into her and take out her heart, but froze when she saw the slender, pale, youth walk down the stairs to stand beside the Pharaoh. Sai caught her stare and smirked, knowingly. No one else seemed to mind him, but the Pharaoh acknowledge his presence and made no comment on it.
Sakura felt something deep echo in her as Temari's hand came down and met the barrier around her body with a crack. Lightning, or something similar to it, dance out around Sakura before sending the high priestess back across the room and knocking nearly everyone else off their feet.
In the confusion, the prisoner who had been returned his heart found his bonds slack and threw them off, jumping to his feet and pulling out the dagger of his tripped guard. Sakura saw him cross the room and raise his blade over his head, fast as an assassin, to bring it down on the Pharaoh's head.
Sakura cried for Sai who stood right by and leapt up to her own feet, dreaming up a wall of daggers to cross in front of her friend like a shield. But she was too slow and too far away to reach him herself and the assassin was painfully fast.
A wall of sand rose up between them and Sakura felt the room shift as sparkling grains came out of ever corner to form a wall shaped like a hand. It caught the assassin's blade and then melted into a serpent to snatch him up, catching his ankles and crawling up his body to dangle him from his legs.
"Pathetic," the Pharaoh sighed, sounding more tired than anything as his sand seeped further down the body of the assassin. His brother rolled over on the floor and then sprang to his feet shouting, 'Gaara!' but the sand never stopped.
Sakura ignored the ruler and his coffin of sand, and ran straight for Sai who was stepping out from behind her wall of daggers with a smile on his face. She stumbled on a step, knees shaking, before she collapsed on him in a bone crushing hug, paying no mind for the actors or the mess around her. She felt like sobbing in relief when he hugged her back.
She could feel people watching her, but didn't care as she pulled back, out of their hug and looked at his face. Sai was still smiling and opened his mouth to say something.
"Shut up!" Sakura shouted, smacking him across the face. "And stop smiling like that, damn it. You know how worried I was about you?"
Sai frowned, holding the side of his face she had barely hurt. Her hand had been shaking too much. "You shouldn't have worried. I thought you would know I was alright."
"Yeah, I figured you could take care of yourself but I was still worried because I care about your dumb ass you dumbass. Friends are allowed to worry about each other, even if they believe in each other. I just-just…I I'm just glad you're alright." Sakura stepped back and huffed, feeling moisture under her lashes. She groaned, reaching up to wipe the tears away. "Stupid…"
"I'm not stupid. I'm actually very smart. I'm so smart I predicted where you would end up and got here ahead of you," Sai shot back with a pout. "Oh yeah, and I guess that means introductions are in order. Here," he turned sideways and nodded to the Pharaoh who was still smothering a man in sand, though his eyes were fixed on Sakura and Sai. "This is Gaara, another one of the god killers of this world and Pharaoh of Upper Egypt. I'd tell you to make a good first impression on him, but I think we're past all that now. Gaara," Sai turned and addressed the Pharaoh. "This is the girls I was talking to you about. Say hello to Sakura, the other godkiller."
Gaara's eyes were lined thickly in black, making the jade green shade of his eyes stand out all the more as he took her in. Standing on the same step she realized they were roughly the same heigh with him being maybe a little bit taller. On his forehead there was a character in Japanese, looking out of place in the Egyptian setting.
Stiffly, Sakura raised a hand and waved. "Hey. Nice to meet you."
From behind him the sand had completely covered Gaara's attacker and with a muffled shriek, the sand coffin compressed, popping the man inside like a balloon and sending his blood and gore shooting out of the sand vents onto the floor below. One of the girl priestesses screamed while the other cowered, but Sakura never flinched.
Gaara swallowed and then raised his own hand, mimicking her earlier greeting. "Nice to meet you too."
"What were the names again?" Jugo asked, looking over the spines of the books in their library.
"Kankuro and Temari."
Sakura stood below him on the ground, staring up at her friend who perched on the edge of a ladder in front of a bookshelf filled with personal journals and a collection of transcribed works. Some were older than others, while some were fresh off the press after being copied down into newer editions.
"Yeah," Jugo sighed, scanning the spines. "Neither name rings a bell, but I'm pretty sure we'll have their accounts here somewhere. If they showed up in the last kingdom it might mean they are important."
"True, but I've never seen either of them before. There are some actors I've seen over and over again, like Itachi or Pein. I would have thought they would be the important ones."
"Maybe." Jugo grunts, reaching forward and stretching to pull something off the shelf. "But maybe there is no order to any of it at all. I thought Madara was pretty much the biggest deal, but he's not been seen by a dreamer until you. Yet look at his books."
Sakura looked to where her friend pointed and saw three thick volumes with his name on them. "Yeah, but aren't these huge because he did a bunch of stuff while he was awake in the real world too? His clan was at war with another clan and it was a footnote in history, but he was still a badass about it."
"Yeah, I'll admit to favoring his story. It's almost heroic sounding until you get to the Kingdom of Monsters. Then it's…ehh, lots of sex and stuff. Ugh, and the author is such a pervert about it."
Sakura snickered reaching for the third volume. "Really, now I wanna see." Jugo protests in the background but Sakura has already found a dirty passage and is eyeing it critically. "Wow."
"Sakura!" Jugo is scrambling down the ladder, reaching for her book. Sakura let's him take it from her hands when her shoulders tart to shake.
"Oh my God, I will never be able to forget that passage. The writer called his dick an 'elegant bishop that sprung into action.'" Sakura feels her cheeks pinch as the laughter stays trapped in her belly.
"Oh, that's no anywhere near as bad as Hidan's stuff," Genma calls from across the room. He's sitting in a recliner with his feet propped up on the nearby desk. "Here, listen to this passage where he does it with a-"
Jugo leaps across the coffee table, screaming and waving his hands. The picture of his frantic race to shut up Genma is enough to make Sakura fall apart laughing. She had seen the way Jugo's eyes went wide at the mention of Hidan. Apparently the sadist had a reputation as being one of the more colorfully distracted dreamers.
Jugo had agreed to let Sakura go through their documents on all the other dreamers and their trails to help her get an idea of what she could expect. Sakura wanted to look up the names of the actors she had met in her world, and Genma had agreed to look for Gaara's file.
Before leaving, Danzo had told Log that he would be leaving one of his wards with Sakura at all times, rotating on and off for as long as she was the Obelisk's dreamer. No other mention of her behavior or dramatic exit was brought up, and no one had made the effort to speak to her again about it, though many of the elders still remained on the property in guest rooms.
"That is not what you should be doing," Jugo hissed, snatching the book free. "You said you would find the other's actor's book, so what are you doing reading sadistic smut?"
Genma waved his hands in front of his face, grinning around the toothpick in his mouth. "Um, first off, he's not a sadist. Hidan is a highly misunderstood character and is actually a thoughtful masochist. He kept the same whore lover for an entire month until she was eaten by his monster goats."
"Not the goats!" Jugo covers his ears and then turns to Sakura with wide pleading eyes. "Don't listen to him. You don't deserve it."
"Don't deserve what?"
Sakura turned, laughter seizing as she recognized the old, matronly voice. In the doorway to the library the elder Kahura stands, hands clasped in front of her, resting lightly on her cane. Her eyes are sagged with age and hard to see, but she makes it clear who she is looking at when she nodes to the two boys, fighting over Hidan's journal.
"If you wouldn't mind, I would like a moment of privacy with Sakura chan."
Genma swallows, glancing at Sakura. "I don't know. I'm not supposed to let her out of my sight."
"It's okay," Sakura says, waving his concern away. "I'll shout if I need you, but I hardly doubt I'm in any danger." She looks to Jugo. "I'll meet up with you later."
Both boys leave the room, Jugo more slowly than Genma, and with more backward glances. But he shuts the door behind him, latching it faithfully so the two women are alone. There is a moment while Kahura waits to hear the sound of their footsteps fade away, but they don't go far. Still, it's enough for privacy.
Kahura steps over to the desk where Genma had been sitting and picks up the book, humming. "Hidan and Madara's second volume. I dare say it shouldn't take a detective to see what you kids were looking at."
Sakura raises her shoulders up, ready to defend her shred of happiness should the old woman chastise her for it, but instead Kahura just chuckles in good humor before moving to a bookshelf and bending low to find a thin volume. Sakura waits while the woman takes her time pulling the book out and setting it down.
"When we were younger we were all required to read a set amount of accounts, and the more you red the more respected your input was. I've read all these tomes, even the tales of a Wakatoshi Kyouya, who's family were merchants. It was at a time where the elders were curious about the benefits of mixed or half breeds, since crossed dogs seemed so much healthier and stronger for it." When she looked up she could see Sakura's eyes narrowed and cough into her hand to hide her secret smile. "Yes, those were different times, but his account was enjoyed for significantly different reasons. Waka kun was quite passionate in his distractions while in the Obelisk, and his chronicler recorded in great detail his escapades with his other males…friends. My father thought the account quite vulgar and wanted it banned, but it was only restricted. No such ban exists now."
Sakura felt her face flush at the implication from the much older woman. That was not what she had been expecting when the elder first entered the room and asked to speak to Sakura in privet, but then who expects anyone to walk in and start endorsing gat erotica? "O-Oh. Um, thanks for the recommendations?"
The old woman's lips were curling and impish, even if her eyes were old and heavy. "I was once a young girl too. Some days I still feel like a young girl. And then there are other days when I forget I ever was a girl. Yesterday was one of those days. I can not apologize enough for that. But I seek to make recompenses."
"Does that include respecting my decision to not get knocked up and pass on this curse to an unborn child?"
Kahura pursed her lips but after a still moment conceded with a nod. "That is your choice and I will not be the one who shames you for it. But at least let me say my thoughts were with protecting another life from what I see as inevitable demise. No one has ever won this thing."
Sakura crossing her hands over her chest and moves so the weight of her body is more evenly distributed. "I know, and you don't think I'll be the first, I get that."
"That may be what I think, but there are those who believe you may be the end of all our searching. The Obelisk has never tried so hard to find a person, breaking through the seals it has. There were years where it would sit silent, choosing no one even after so many were offered up. That paired with your impressive record, well, you're not the lame horse you see yourself as."
"Trust me, I don't see myself as a lame horse."
"No, you don't, do you? And maybe that's what is needed. Regardless, Danzo sees you as his golden goose, and is eager to support you. Others may believe in you but have very different reactions…"
Sakura bounced a bit on the balls of her feet. "Such as?"
"If you were to win what do you think would happen? Think from the perspective of an old man who hates change. Suddenly a new god is born in their time. Is this something they want?"
Sakura swallowed before nodding. "I guess not. Some might feel that way, but it's not like I asked for this, or even want the prize at the end. I just want to be free from the curse."
"I believe you, but others don't care. They don't want to see a human god, which is one of the reasons why our families rebelled in the first place over a hundred years ago. Some are angry, some are scared. Danzo is right to fear for your safety in the waking world. Please understand this."
Sakura did understand, a little too well. When had death become such an easy thing to suspect and brace for? Two years of dodging it in the dream world and now in the waking world made for a different type of person. Sakura could feel herself change. She wasn't the same person she was before the Obelisk.
"I'll be careful, and I have friends here. I trust Jugo, Genma-as nasty as he can be, and Yamato too. They're all people I thought of as friends even before they knew of the curse or the trials or whatever you call it."
"I wish the best for you, Sakura chan, and I will pray for you, both inside the dream and outside it."
Sakura might have responded, might have said something back, but there was a noise outside and a scuffle before the door rolled back and Yamato marched in, stoping squarely between Sakura and the old woman. Genma sighed, leaning against the wall with Jugo following them in.
Yamato's tone is strained as he forces a polite smile. "Apologies, elder, but we were asked to keep an eye on Sakura without exception. If you have anything else you need to discuss with her please excuse our presense, but I'd rather not leave her alone."
"Of course I understand." Kahura's cat like smile is back in place, stretching up her face. "Danzo is in your ear, of course you are right to be paranoid. Sakura chan and I were just finishing up. Thank you for keeping her safe." Turning to leave the old woman takes a few steps before pausing. "Please do not forget my words, Sakura chan, and enjoy your time here."
Genma stands aside to let the old woman pass while Yamato does nothing but edge closer to Sakura, standing close enough for his warmth to reach out to her. He smells of peaches and a dizzying side of Alcohol. Work clings to him leading her to believe he made a rush to get here.
When Kahura closes the door behind her, Sakura hates how her heart clangs in an echoing reply, already feeling heaver than ever. She knows the old woman is honest with her warnings. Now there is no where that is safe for Sakura, not the dream world nor the waking one.
AN:/ In case you were wondering, yes, Kahura did just pick out gay porn for Sakura to read. Don't be mad. Next two weeks for sure will have updates, after that I will try my best to keep it going as long as possible, but these long chapters take time.
I also have a A03 account where I'll begin to start uploading stuff (I'm super lazy) that usually shows up on my tumblr... my A03 handle is Vesperchan and of course my tumblr id is vesperlionheart in case you wanted to know.
Please remember to review, because really, that's what sustains me.
RANDOM BITS OF INFO YOU DIDN'T WANT:
Dreamers like Sasori, Pein, and Deidara were a part of the Obelisk during the late Meiji era (1890's) when the elders were considering using the offspring of interracial couples based on the assumption that mutts were stronger and had more vitality in the dreamworld.
The elders were desperate for a champion towards the end of the Meiji era, desperate enough to break with traditions.
Some of these dreamers were borderline unwilling, others were tricked. Deidara did not know what he was getting into, only that he could buy food for his family if he 'played the dreaming game.' Sasori and Pein knew and wanted to live forever/become a god. Like Deidara, they came from the streets and were poor with no family to care for or be cared for by.
The Obelisk came to America during the Taishō era, the 1910's, right before WW1.
Actors older than the Heian Period (794 - 1192) are super rare to come across in the dream world. The longer you've been dead, the more faded your memory becomes to the Obelisk.
Before the Heian Period the Obelisk was in India.
Mizu nin are primarily from the Kamakura Period (1185 - 1333) before the Obelisk fell into the hands of the Uchiha clan, who held possession of the Obelisk until the 14080's or the Warring States era.