Chaos herself's note:
Hey there!
A new month - a new chapter. This time I can definitely tell you that the story will have 22 chapters in total. So with this one we've reached halftime. I hope you enjoy what you're about to read.
Have fun!
Chaos
...
Chapter 11: Tales from the Trenches
New Year's came and went fast; the couple of festive days passed her by like the fluttering impressions of a distant dream - unreal, alien, and gone within the blink of an eyelash as if they never were.
Surely, Touka dutifully attended the official gathering of her clan; but even when she watched her kin merrily chit-chatting about war anecdotes and stuffing their faces with the women's handmade traditional New Year's dishes and getting properly wasted with gallons of Sake, her mind was elsewhere looming in the shadows for her prey.
She ought to be out there... standing sentry, hunting traitors, burrying her hands in her enemies' chests and ripping their hearts out so she could offer them still steaming and fresh to the god of war and death instead of treking along to the shrine to pray to the affiliated deity for peace and love and happiness.
Such blasphemy.
The warrior couldn't even pretend to herself to believe in peace and happiness; nontheless she accompanied a quite three sheets to the wind Tobirama-dono, who stubbornly insisted on leaving the party early and drinking the Sake at the overcrowded shrine and ringing the chimes together and praying for the good of their village and getting their fortune told, like the loyal guard she was with an impassive face.
"Aw, man," Tobirama tipsily huffed as they inched their way through the swaying throng of people, "and here I thought at least today I would get to see you unwind and dress like everyone else..." He slightly bumped into her shoulder. "You've been so glum lately, too."
Touka gripped the hilt of her sheathed blade strapped to her hip tighter while her scrutinizing gaze flitted across the countless faces of possible threats to her clan chief's brother's life. "I'm not wearing my usual battle armour today, am I?" she replied calmly and with her thoughts sunken deep in the penumbraic shades of plotted murder and ghastly echoes of death-gargles.
He poked her cheek with his index finger, a sure sign that he probably shouldn't have that Sake after all... "Oh, come on, Touka. You're neither a man nor a shrine maiden; women are just not supposed to wear Hakamas... whatever happened to that Yukata you wore at the anniversary party? Never seen you wear it again ever since."
"Last time I checked you disagreed with the colours and floral patterns, Tobirama-dono, did you not?" she answered unpertubed and squinted ahead for suspicious movements and treacherous glances, which spoke of shrouded danger. Cold twilight darkness was seeping into her the longer they stayed.
"That's so totally beside the point..." Tobirama grumbled into his non-existent beard. Soon enough his drunken mood lifted again when he received his too highly priced cup of hot Sake and downed it with a contented grin while they were waiting in line in front of the altar and murmured their 'Happy New Year's' to everyone who recognized Tobirama-dono... which was nearly the whole merry crowd since he was so committed to the village and its development by now.
"Ah, that was totally worth it; the perfect New Year's. We should do this every year together, don't you agree?" he slurred and his drunken crimson stare lit with the grin spreading across his features. Touka couldn't share his relaxed sentiments though; her unwavering and watchful presence next to him was humouring him enough.
"Let's get our fortunes told next!" Tobirama exclaimed, grabbed her at her elbow to drag her towards the stand and paid for the both of them. She calmly followed and accepted the folded paper from his offering hand in silence even though she didn't believe in these kind of things. "And? What does it say?" he asked curiously and scooted closer to peer over her shoulder at the piece of foretold future in her grasp. If he wasn't so wasted, Tobirama surely wouldn't be this informal with the Kunoichi ever, regardless of how long they had known each other.
'War is coming; and you'll receive lots of lemons this year again?' Touka mused to herself with a wry smile forced into one corner of her mouth. She did not need a paper to tell her that though.
"Bad luck. General outlook: You're forced to walk a dangerous path and make inconvenient decisions. Be careful with whom you bother; people might not always turn out to be who they seem. The loss of something or someone dear to you is imminent. Love prospect: Chances are buds of tender feelings might sprout with the person next to you. Things will keep getting in your way of pursuing these feelings and you can't be sure of their true intentions about you, though," he read aloud when Touka kept quiet.
Basically what she had already assumed; maybe she should have become a part time fortune teller with her pinpoint accuracy...ha.
"Aww, that sucks," Tobirama commented and patted her shoulder sympathetically, "at least we're in this together, right? See, I got the same..." He waved his fortune into her face for evidence and flashed her a lopsided drunken grin. "Makes it only half as bad, I think...and haven't we always fought side by side, you and I?"
The Kunoichi sighed and let her wary gaze wander over the people wandering about and search for hints of dark motifs. "I remember..." she murmured quietly, somberly, "we used to slash quite a row of Uchiha throats and guts and the constant crimson rain was pooling up to our shins not so long ago."
Touka then looked at him sternly. "Since you got what you came for let's go back to my place...I need to discuss something with you, Tobirama-dono." He simply nodded mirroring the seriousness she showed him and within the blink of an eyelash he transported them into the confidential seclusion of her heavily armoured quarters.
And while she prepared him another Sake she dropped the bombshell the size of a bijuu dama with so much as a deadpan: "Because I can't trust anyone anymore, I founded a secret assassination squad of double agents loyal to me alone within Mito's and my secret assassination squad to keep Hashirama-sama safe from the shadows and to eleminate every possible threat and traitor and enemy to the Senju, beginning with Madara Uchiha and ending with the whole Shinobi world conspiring against us..."
He simply gaped.
"Why-...why are you telling me this...if you can't trust anyone?" he rasped at last while he sobered up within seconds of these revolutionary news.
"Because you're the only exception, Tobirama-dono; I know you like the back of my hand and you know me," Touka quietly conceded and locked eyes with him while she placed an iris, a white rose and venus hair into his hands; she was dead serious about this and his reaction showed her that he understood. "...and I want you to mark my people as mine with your Hiraishin seal like you did to me back then. So you, too, know who is on our side in this war."
Tobirama nodded just as grimly.
"Who would have thought that our fortune would already come true so early in the year?" he later scoffed when he downed the Sake and even Touka managed a faint smile at that.
As soon as the frost receded Touka spent even more time outside her quarters honing her skills and sharpening her blades in the weak winter sun; mostly she kept to herself and could go all out until she practically dropped with exhaustion, but sometimes members of her squad would join her in training if they were not busy with missions or their surface life as clan brats, bored wifes or grey eminences.
Jigitarisu came most often nowadays, which was not very surprising; she was an orphan after all. And as soon as Touka had made the teenager one of hers she had opened up to her squad commander gradually and took her new duty even more serious than before.
Probably Jigitarisu also wanted to prove herself worthy of Touka's decision to clear her for the secret squad within the secret squad when she was ready in attendance and pottering about the greenhouses and poison cabinet more often than not. Maybe Chiyo just wanted company from someone she looked up to...
The wary warrior quietly approved of her efforts regardless.
One of these days Chiyo had just gone outside to fetch something from the greenhouse, when Touka heard hastened footfalls approach her quarters. Instantly alert she grabbed one of her many blades, hid it in the folds of her sleeves and waited with bated breath by the door. But instead of an ambusher it was Kinka who stumbled into the room. Blood smeared and sobbing hard she dropped to the ground before Touka, her convolvolus mask thrown to the ground along with a bloody bundle.
"What happened?" Touka wanted to know, as she unwrapped the bundle and found a head inside the soiled cloth - the daimyou's head.
But Inoko cried for the longest time hugging herself protectively until she was able to say something intelligible. "Irakusa-taichou...I...I did as you told," she gushed between sobs. "I infiltrated th-the daimyou's residence and everything was according to plan. Everything was fine. Then he...he invited me to his chambers. I thought, this was my chance to do the deed and get the information you wanted."
She heaved a shuddering breath before she continued. "I did as you taught me to, I made all the gestures as we talked. But then he...he suddenly grabbed me and pushed me to the ground. I told him to stop, but he wouldn't let go and I...I..." She cried harder. "I killed that disgusting bastard! Slit his throat and stabbed, stabbed, stabbed him until he didn't move anymore. And...and there was so much blood."
She lifted her hands and they trembled. "I killed him. So he can never touch me again. I was so afraid they might find me, so I took his head and fled as fast as I could. And I...I..." Inoko's voice broke as she buried her face in her hands and sobbed.
Touka sighed and knelt beside the girl. "Did anyone see you?" When Inoko shook her head, she patted her shoulder and said: "Good. You did right to come to me first, Kinka. Well, technically your mission failed. But you came out of there alive and unnoticed. Let this be a lesson to you that all actions cause reactions." She gently nudged her shoulder. "Come now, take a shower and wash that blood off your hands. I'll make you some tea, so you can calm down. You can't go home in a state like this."
Inoko obediently followed Touka's directive, and after tea the older Kunoichi decided to let both the Yamanaka girl and Chiyo stay the night, so Inoko would feel safe in the company of her team mate and squad commander. Chiyo also helped Inoko deal with the shock of killing and being assaulted.
This incident told Touka that, indeed, actions caused reactions, and that they had to be cautions what steps to take. Kinka had been too eager to apply all of her skills, so the lecherous daimyou had responded to her signals too strongly and taken advantage of her. Which in turn had forced Kinka to kill the man. Of course, the daimyou's death caused a ruckus. Yet luckily, nothing could be traced back to their secret squad, Touka made sure of that.
And then one day an unexpected visitor appeared at Touka's threshold. She stopped and stared at the man. Black mane, red eyes. Instinctively Touka grabbed a Kunai hidden inside her sleeve, ready to attack.
But he just grinned at her goofily and held out a tattered bouquet of roses. "Touka Senju, Hashirama-sama's cousin, right? You're even more beautiful than I imagined," he laughed and scratched the back of his head. "I'm Makoto Yuuhi, nice to meet you," he bowed. "I believe you have heard that our clans want to tighten the bonds. And, well, now that I meet you I'm actually glad my clan chief chose me to marry one of Hashirama-sama's cousins."
For a moment Touka froze, memories of what Madara had done to her shadow clone flashed through her mind; memories of the malicious Gen-Jutsu he had caught her in, memories of how she had been kept prisoner in the Uchiha district, forced to be the devil's bride, forced to breed his children and do his bidding. And seemingly years had passed until she was able to finally kill herself and dissolve the shadow clone, which freed her from the nightmarish Jutsu that still thieved her sleep weeks and weeks later.
But Touka didn't betray any of this to the Yuuhi and just smiled. "Please, come in then. Would you like some tea?" she invited the unsuspecting man into her lair. He never saw the coldness flash in her eyes, as she prepared a most vicious Gen-Jutsu of her own.
And once she would be done with him he would think twice about ever suggesting anything like marriage to Touka again... she would make sure he would never dare set foot in her territory ever again!
