Chapter 02 | Snake in the Water
Mio firmly believed sadness was a blessing given to those who deserved it. Nine days had passed since the death of Mio's parents and she had yet to feel anything remotely like grief. She imagined the emotion was there overshadowed by fear—the terror of sitting in front of the higher echelons of the Uchiha clan, scrutinized and interrogated for sentiments and details she was unable to provide. She lived in dread since her arrival to the Uchiha compound, shut away in a four and a half mat room without windows or a closet and a shoji leading into a narrow hallway that stunk of burning incense and mold with only her memories to keep her company.
The compound was an ancient set of buildings thirty miles north of her childhood home, hidden underneath a canopy of trees where nature was thickest. There were three connecting buildings, large enough to house the clan's leaders, otherwise known as the elders, their families, members of the intelligence squad and highly trained lookouts. The clan was spread throughout the continent in accessible villages where the common folk, merchants, or lords could easily hire them for jobs. Once jobs were accepted, the shinobi assigned to them picked up a member from intelligence in the compound. Everything done within the clan's various stations was reported back to the brain, so it was common to see shinobi shuffling in and out at all hours of the day. Whenever a new group appeared, a scout whistled from the platforms built across sturdy branches and proceeded to guide them through the booby traps.
Beyond the compound, approximately ten yards away sat a river that twisted along the forest until it plummeted into a waterfall over a stack of black stones and pooled at their feet. She remembered the direction from her first and only visit to the compound three years ago; her mother took the lead.
.
Kikyo glanced over her shoulder every ten seconds to make sure Mio crossed the uneven pathway without a hitch. She tripped over tiny rocks and bulging tree roots, the looming branches and prickly bushes left scratches all along her arms and legs.
"Should I carry you?" called Kikyo, suppressing a laugh.
Mio shook her head, biting down on her lip as her struggle through the foliage persisted until she reached the sound of the river. Kikyo was waiting on the other side, a strong, lean woman with hair as black as night, eyes dark as coal and sun-kissed skin. Mio pushed past the thick bushes with a stumble, stepping into soft, grassy earth covered in daffodils and daisies. It smelled of vegetation and of surrounding mango trees.
"Is this where all the water is from?" asked Mio, blinking up to her mother curiously. "The one for the baths?"
"No," answered Kikyo, starting along the river. She waved her arm forward in gesture. "Come on, we've got quite a ways to go."
"Then where is the water coming from?"
"From an aquifer, you extract the water from a well," elucidated Kikyo. "I think there's a book in the compound that explains aquifers, do you want to borrow it?"
Mio smiled shyly, rushing to walk at her stride.
Kikyo patted her daughter's head, pushing back tangled waves of black hair. "You can tell me all about it after you finish."
"Ow!" complained Mio after her mother's fingers tangled in her hair.
"I asked your father to brush it," she remarked in exasperation. She made an attempt to brush out the knots with her fingers, but failed every time Mio batted her hands away. "I swear he never listens."
"He was busy," grumbled Mio, ducking under her arm. "Where are we going?"
Kikyo's face brightened in remembrance and followed the river. Mio followed close behind.
The river grew steep the further they traveled and put a strain on her already tired limbs. They walked nonstop from the compound to where the smell of fruit was the strongest and were on an even longer journey.
Mio's legs started cramping when the rush of water grew louder, as if it were screaming in her ears. A tight cluster of stones replaced the soft, watery earth under her feet, making her clumsy.
Kikyo took her hand, hoisting her up a large boulder and into a thicket of berries. She smiled down at her. "It's just right here."
Moving past the shrubberies, together they climbed a pair of boulders just before the river crashed into a wide pool beneath. Mio stood at the edge staring at the sparkling water in horror. The high elevation carried the scents of flowers and trees budding with acorns and the same smell of sweet grass her mother gave off, but the ten-foot drop into the water terrified her.
"Ready?"
Mio looked at her mother, shocked at the sight of her tossing her tank top over her head. "For?"
Kikyo kicked off her shorts, throwing back her head in laughter, and in that split second, she jumped off the rocky edge. She hit the surface with a tall splash, casting a veil of sprinkling water to fall over Mio. There were only ripples down below, but no sign of her mother.
Mio's heart jumped into her throat as she searched the waters for signs of Kikyo when she resurfaced with a gasp, smoothing her hair over her scalp. "The water's great!"
"Someone died and you want to swim?" demanded Mio, knowing she was making excuses to avoid the drop.
"Coward!" Kikyo shot back playfully.
"This is insensitive!"
"They weren't my family!"
"They were your clansmen!"
"Forget the nonsense and have a dip!"
Mio grimaced, backing away from the edge.
Truth be told, as respectful as she was to the dead, although she only knew about the woman who died through reputation, staring into the steep drop and crash of water made her woozy. Her heartbeat accelerated, thumped in her head, and her hands began to sweat. Looking down made her want to throw up and the world spin.
"Mio! Come down!" shouted Kikyo, swimming on her back in circles along the edges of the pool. "The water is fresh! Jump! It's an easy fall."
That was far from encouraging. Mio searched the surroundings and found a wall bulging with rocks. It looked climbable if she kept her eyes off the ground. She inched closer to it, turning when her mother called out to her noisily, startling her.
"Don't climb down, it ruins the thrill!"
She shook her head, sliding into a seat over the ledge. She rubbed her clammy hands together and then over the bottom of her shorts.
"Fear is your greatest weakness!" she continued. "Overcome them and turn them into strengths now than later!"
Mio felt a pair of hands lift her from the ledge and arms hoist her onto a sturdy shoulder. She turned to see the back of her father's head with his short waves of black hair and she tasted the change in mood. Her mother stopped swimming, only the droplets of water dripping from her reached them.
"We're in the middle of a funeral, Kikyo," he called sternly. "You haven't paid your respects, get out of the water."
Kikyo shouted her rebuttal as she emerged from the water and skirted up the sleek stone flanking the cascade, but it barely reached her ears. Genji had already traveled past the stony path and onto the soft earth that caked around his ankles.
"I asked you to wait!" snapped Kikyo, pulling her shirt over her head.
Genji turned, voice littered with bursts of anger. "And I asked you to stop heckling Mio!" he chided. "She is a child, strengths and weaknesses don't matter if she isn't in battle."
Mio watched through wide eyes, the skin under her flesh quivered as her heart hammered in her chest anxiously. Instead of thinking the thoughts she might unconsciously, she wound her arms around her father's neck, seated on his forearm.
"She is at an appropriate age," her mother remarked, clutching her shorts in her hands. "There are wars being fought in the shinobi community, wars that could eventually require the lot of our clansmen including the children. Mio should be ready for the worst of situations."
"Mio will be ready for them when they come, she doesn't need the extra burden if she can avoid it," he said with finality.
"I have as much say—"
Genji twisted around. "Enough," he barked. "This isn't up for discussion." He lowered his voice. "I'll return Mio to the compound; I'll wait for you there, we should pay our respects to Sachiyo and her grandchildren."
Kikyo's shoulders slumped in defeat, normally a proud woman with every comeback imaginable in her arsenal she set aside her pride and lagged behind.
Mio looked from her mother to her father, her stomach swallowing itself. The emotion paled in her expression. A bitter smiled appeared on her mother's face before she mouthed an apology to her. She wrapped her arms tighter around her father and rested her chin on her forearm.
They rarely argued, and when they did, the reasons were as idiotic as mismatched socks, faded black clothes, a crooked dining table, or a salty meal. Mio found them amusing and often struggled to keep her giggling to herself when they clashed.
What she witnessed that day was serious. It stemmed from a discussion held when she was only four and it concerned her future. Genji wanted to leave her the option of turning civilian if she wished it, but Kikyo argued against it until she emerged victorious. The condition was that he would take care of both Mio's mental and physical training, while Kikyo took care of her education. Genji thought to protect Mio from Kikyo's Spartan training and save her the trauma.
She used to hear them debating afterhours when they thought she was asleep. Their voices muffled through the walls, the conversation incoherent.
Genji took notice of her face and offered her a reassuring smile. His hand found her left hand rested over his shoulder, fingers tracing her palms. There was a curious glint in his eyes. "Are you trembling because you're afraid of heights or the pool of water?"
Mio's face burned with embarrassment and she buried it into her forearm. Admitting to either meant her father's mental training failed to teach her bravery. She coward at the face of high places and deep waters, the cascade was a double nightmare condensed into one. She feared these were the sort of anxieties she could never overcome and his aloofness to the subject multiplied them.
It seemed her mother was trying to remedy the fault by drawing her out to the cascade, albeit horribly, so she felt shaken up.
"That's fine, Mio," he said encouragingly. "Bravery is good. It is a great trait to possess, but not everyone is lucky to possess it." He caught her gaze and held it as he trekked up the embankment and into the thicket, hoisting her up securely as the ground under him turned slippery. He patted her back. "You don't need to worry about overcoming your fears, you only need to be brave when it's necessary."
.
Mio heard the shoji open and watched the woman who brought her to the compound step inside. She remembered why the woman looked familiar when the memory of the cascade arose from a pool of others. She was Sachiyo—the funeral was held for her daughter-in-law—reputed to be a skilled kunoichi who pursued power until it granted her a place among the elders and was the grandmother of children with high chakra reserves and all the natural ability the Uchiha clan took pride on.
Seeing Uchiha Sachiyo for the first time since they arrived unnerved her. The last she saw of her was after she guided her into the tiny room she inhabited, explaining to her that someone was missing.
"Come, child," she said urgently. "Your aunt's returned."
Mio cringed.
"She makes me feel the same way," Sachiyo murmured, reaching for her arm to heave her off the ground.
Mio's eyes brightened in response to the comment, though she was sure Sachiyo wished it to go unheard. The statement held some truth. Mio had an aunt, her father's older sister, Konoe, and according to natural process, it made her Mio's last living relative, as terrible as the assessment made her feel. If one looked up nightmare in the dictionary there would be a picture of Konoe. It had nothing to do with her acerbic tongue and violent mood swings, but the fact that she seemed to have been blessed with the ability to become anyone's worst nightmare. If your biggest fear was waking up in the middle of the night to Konoe at the foot of her bed with a knife, chances are she would be there.
Mio didn't hate her. She never liked how harshly she treated her father or the many fights she picked with her mother, but what she felt wasn't as much hate as it was a twinge of dislike. Konoe had persisting issues with her parents' union and as the proof was mountainous, she definitely had a problem with their offspring. This left Mio in a bad position.
She suspected the elders were minutes away from making Konoe her legal guardian.
Mio felt herself fall behind as the realization set up camp beside her hammering heart. Sachiyo paused in the middle of the hall during intervals to walk astride her in order to take her by the arm and lead her forward. Even the sweet smelling incense couldn't calm her nerves.
The corridor split into three directions, the left passage led the way down interlocking open-sided corridors that connected the housing building with an axillary building that doubled as a three-floored dojo. Taking the straight passage headed out the back entrance to a well and a vegetable garden.
Sachiyo steered her down the hallway to the right and into a barren corridor covered in dusty cobwebs and the thick stench of decay. The musk clung to the fabric of her clothes, so even after they walked through some twists and turns and into the main building, it was all she smelled.
As expected, Konoe stood in the center of the room with an eternal frown and her arms folded over her chest. She was an average sized woman with hawkish, demeaning eyes, a lean curveless but toned physique. She wore a thick mantle, slung over her shoulder to reveal a thin shirt and pants combination and a belt holstering all sorts of sharp weapons. Some of them had flecks of blood staining the blade having not been cleaned properly.
Konoe looked nothing like her father, it seemed relation was impossible, but she trusted in his word.
Her aunt seized Mio's shoulders upon sight, fingers digging into the flesh. "What did you see?" she demanded, disregarding the frightened look in her eyes. "Tell me now!"
Sachiyo cut between them, forcing Konoe's hands from her shoulders. "Enough," she barked. "You won't get any answers from demanding them."
"This has nothing to do with you," Konoe said bitterly. "Stay out of this."
"You won't get a word out of her," started Sachiyo, earning a questionable glance. "Mio hasn't spoken to anyone since I brought her to the compound."
Konoe glared at Mio furiously and scoffed. "So my brother and his stupid wife are dead, this useless brat of theirs is left in my custody and yet she says nothing in accordance to their butcher?" Derision dripped from her tone, darkness clouded her eyes. "Who went out there?"
Sachiyo sighed, remaining calm, but Mio saw the twitch in her eyebrow. "I was taking a team to deliver a request," she said simply.
"Who was it? On the team?"
"Katsura, Hiryuu—"
"Two elders to deliver a request to the assassins?" remarked Konoe in mock astonishment. "Whatever did they do to deserve such honor? You even brought Katsura along…however did you convince his father?"
"That is completely irrelevant," Sachiyo said. "I summoned you here so you could pay your respects to your brother and for us to discuss Mio's future."
"What about their murderer?" Konoe pressed. "Why were there two elders at the site and no report of his death? Why didn't you kill him?"
"He killed two others, but if they hadn't died, Mio would have taken their place," the elder answered.
The look her aunt regarded her with left much to be desired, a glare of abhorrence. "Who were the dead?" she asked lowly, returning her eyes to the older kunoichi. "Who else did he kill?"
"Masao and Sumie."
Mio followed the conversation, eyeing one speaker to the next. In memory, she recalled the quickness of her parents' deaths and Sachiyo's face materializing through darkness, a pale wrinkled face expressing more emotion than she thought to offer. Nothing else appeared in her mind.
Konoe pinched the bridge of her nose in disdain, pacing back, and filled the room with bad vibes. "You are a fool," she spat. "Masao and Sumie were great, important shinobi and you lost them to an unknown murderer?" She spun around to face the cool and collected elder with a scathing look. "Now tell me, why were Masao, Sumie and Katsura with you? What use were they to you?"
Mio's memory was fragmented with a few pieces smashed to dust. It was as if her brain stopped functioning in the minutes it took her mother's body to grow cold.
"I told you, I took a team to deliver a request."
"So answer me this, why were there two elders delivering a request?"
Sachiyo took a deep breath, closing and opening her eyes in the process. "Hiryuu and I were heading south, to my home," she told her. "I've left my grandchildren to Ichizo far too long, Hiryuu is taking over their training and I their education, but this information holds too little value in your assumptions. Genji and Kikyo's deaths are not my burden to bear, but I mourn their deaths as I would had they been my children. They were the finest members of our intelligence squad, stronger and faster than most."
The explanation flew over Konoe's head. She thought it was useless, but Mio saw that Sachiyo's regret was true. "Let me get this straight, you sacrificed Masao and Sumie for the sake of this little girl?" she reiterated, seething. "What good is she if she cannot hold a kunai properly or climb trees in fear of heights? What good is she as a shinobi if she inherited nothing from my brother?"
"She is intelligent," replied Sachiyo in her defense.
"Intelligence won't get her anything," said Konoe, disgusted by the mere idea.
"It won't get her killed." Sachiyo reached for Mio's shoulder, curling a hand on it. "I am not the only one that wishes to speak in concern for the girl, so please save your complaints for our audience. Come Mio."
Mio followed Sachiyo through a doorway into a larger room where three shinobi sat in wait. All eyes fell on her upon entering and the nervousness coiled her insides. She hid partially in Sachiyo's elongated shadow, hoping to disappear behind her imposing aura, but they remained attentive of her actions.
The eldest of the three was a stout, powerful looking man with a shock of white hair twisted over his shoulder and a full beard, while the youngest was a nameless boy of seventeen that went by as many aliases as necessary to get through a mission. He was mousy-haired with darkness in his eyes and a deadly aura that clung to him like a second skin. The last of the three elders was sturdily built, dark haired, black eyed as any true Uchiha with a formidable reputation and scars to show for it. Among the elders, he stood tallest with arrogance and a deep frown that could rival her aunt's.
Sachiyo guided her into the stacked cushions and took her place besides the youngest elder as the only female. Konoe loomed behind Mio, casting a long shadow across the sunbaked floor. Three squared windows sat open to her left, filling the room with light that cast heavy shadows over a calligraphy scroll hung on the wall behind the elders and stems of cherry blossoms in squared vases, tightly packed in colorful pebbles. A round incense burner sat between the vases, a sweet smell emitted from it.
"Look at me girl," the old elder called gruffly.
Mio lifted her eyes to him, startled. She set her clammy hands over her knees, rubbing the sweat on her shorts. His glare bore into her like a pointed knife, even her insides quivered. It took a full minute to tear her gaze away and stare at the lines between the tatami with her heart pounding wildly in her ribcage.
He snorted. The derisive laughter turned into a violent cough he covered with his palm.
"Be mindful of your health, gramps," called the boy mirthfully.
"Be quiet!" he barked in the middle of a coughing fit.
"We are in the middle of something important, leave the useless prattle for later," admonished the scarred elder.
"I agree with Hiryuu," Sachiyo said. "We are here for a reason, Eijiro." Her eyes met with Mio's fleetingly. "Mio is alive, she is perfectly healthy save a few bruises and I believe she has information on our murderer."
"What use is believing she has anything? She isn't speaking," said the boy, incredulous. "I tried too, right Mio-chin?"
And try he did. The easygoing elder spent the last two days poking at her for information. He invaded her privacy, appearing in her room in the middle of morning, sat with her at the dining table (whenever she was present) and followed her outdoor excursions to the gardens. He pursued her with the determination of a lovesick teenager. She heard about lovesick teenagers from her father, he warned her about them.
Mio remained impassive without giving any of the elders any confirmation.
"We have no use for a mute," Konoe said snidely. "She is better use to us dead. Masao and Sumie, Genji and Kikyo, hard to admit, but they were great shinobi with limitless potential. Being the progeny of skilled shinobi doesn't automatically classify the brat as a genius."
I agree, thought Mio deprecatingly, clutching the fabric of her shorts.
"Intelligence is a powerful trait," Sachiyo said. "With the right training and patience, she could become a spy as her parents were." Her face turned to Konoe's dissatisfaction. "As her legal guardian it will be your responsibility."
"I have no use for broken things," remarked Konoe lowly, heading for the door. "Do with her as you please."
Silence set in as the nameless elder fanned his face with a hand while mouthing the word, "Wow."
Sachiyo sucked in a breath, moving forward to stand when Hiryuu interrupted. "Let's continue our discussion. Something must be done about the girl."
"Can I keep her?" asked the boy.
"She isn't a dog," remarked Eijiro.
"Physically no, but if she takes over Genji and Kikyo's work—"
"I wouldn't go so far as deeming her worthy of becoming their second," Hiryuu interjected. "According to reports, her battle prowess is lacking. She isn't up to par with anyone in her age group, in fact, I believe it might be best to remove her."
"Kill her?" shrilled Sachiyo. "What good will that do us?"
Mio felt her clamminess disappear as the heated conversation persisted. Nobody was staring at her, she felt at ease that way. She was good at pretending to be invisible.
"It's best to discard the useless ones," replied Hiryuu, determined. He probably had a date in mind for her execution, perhaps during sunny weather because killing a child in stormy weather would have been bad luck.
"Do not persist on this, she will not be killed," Sachiyo decided.
"What do you propose we do with her? Konoe doesn't want her," he argued.
"I want her," the nameless boy chirped, smiling from ear to ear. "She'll be like a little sister to me; I'll take good care of her, promise."
"A brat like you can't take care of another," grumbled Eijiro. "You'd be in charge of her training and expenses, not to mention she's a girl. Girls take a lot more grooming." The old man looked her up and down. "She'll need it."
Sachiyo bristled, abandoning her seat. "I'll take her," she said. "I trained her mother, I can raise her alongside my grandsons."
Hiryuu protested, but the decision was set in stone and something told Mio that this was the plan all along.
Eijiro nodded. "If you refined a girl like Kikyo, this little one shouldn't be too hard."
The nameless boy pouted with disappointment, but ultimately agreed to her decision. Hiryuu stood by his disapproval, stubborn as a mule.
.
.
Mio ate slices of mango from a rectangular platter seated in the corner of her tiny room. She flipped through a book settled on the floor between her legs. It was a book on aquifers. Sachiyo brought it along with a stack of ten others hoping she could enjoy them while she settled a few loose ends before starting preparations on their trip back to her home.
She read all the books in the stack the first time she visited the compound. She picked up the aquifer book because it reminded her of her mother and the memory at the cascade, how frightened she was staring into the pool of water. To make up for terrifying her, Kikyo had brought her the book and sat with her explaining the things she didn't understand. Reading it made her feel better, even though she felt Sachiyo's decision might have been useless after Hiryuu went on to stress how lacking she was in comparison to the rest of her age group.
Mio lifted her eyes, alert. She shut her book and scrambled onto her feet. She scoured the corner where she kept her belongings packed in a leather bag. She dug through it frantically until she came upon a slip of crumpled paper, the one her mother tucked into her hand just before coming face to face with her final opponent.
She fell into a seat, holding it between trembling hands. The memory of a flustered Kikyo flashed through her mind, hearing the sound of her voice shouting over the sound of metal clashing, "Get out of the way, Mio!" and the tear of paper as she scurried closer, thrusting the paper between numb fingers. "Take this, Mio. Take this and run into the forest, run as deep into the forest as possible, someone will find you. Someone from the clan will find you." Bringing her hand up to her face, gesturing to the note, she said, "This is yours. Only yours."
The kiss she placed on her forehead filled her present self with warmth.
Mio opened it, smoothed it over the tatami and sucked in a breath as she read the following words, 'Drown the snake.'
It took a minute for the message to sink in and only a second for the thin paper to burn over a burning candle. She returned to her corner and reopened her book.
Sachiyo entered the room seconds after, startling her. "Have your bags ready for tomorrow," she said. "We leave at daybreak. Meet me at the entrance a half hour before."
She left as quickly as she came.
With an unsettled heart, Mio pushed the nightmares from her head.
Mio waited at the entrance an hour earlier with her leather bag slung across her shoulder, snaking on crackers she rummaged out of the kitchen. She read a book on folklore and flipped through one that documented the lives of six of the most famous shinobi of the past before a pair of familiar voices surfaced walking to the front of the house. They fell silent when Sachiyo and Hiryuu appeared in her periphery as she looked up in wonder.
"Have you been waiting long?" Sachiyo asked, surprised by her punctuality. She had a knack for it, being on time. It made her feel better—correctness was always better.
Kikyo enforced perfection in her home and threw a fit at the face of flaw. While one parent taught her perfection, the other instructed her in patience.
Mio responded with a shake of her head, not minding the wait. She rose from her seat and cast a wary look at Hiryuu.
"He is returning with us," she explained. "If we leave now, we can make it in two full days."
Hiryuu's eyes narrowed. "I'll take the lead."
He stepped out, doing as he said and started towards the narrow trees, disappearing between them as he scaled the tallest and jumped from branch to branch.
"Let's go."
Sachiyo led her through the thickest greenery, pacing the trip to suit Mio. It was the start of a long, tiring journey in which she observed both elders exchanging niceties during the short breaks and suffered through nightmares that repeated the events of that day.
The only time she spoke was through her screams and not a single soothing word helped silence her. Every time she woke up, she thought about disappearing too, like them, and as horrible as the thought made her feel, she couldn't shake it out of her head.
She realized every time she gauged Hiryuu's reaction to her nightmares that she needed to suppress the tremors. He hated her. She felt it from the first time he laid eyes on her, like a shadow that clamped onto her skin, covering it inch by inch.
Mio wasn't stupid. If she dropped her guard, he would eat her alive.
xl note: Mio's perceptions of tragedy are a tad warped, don't let it confuse you. There will be instances in which she remembers the death of her parents and you'll notice all the different versions in the following chapter. The way I see it is simple, she closed off before anything actually registered and she's struggling. Of course, you get a semi-accurate account in this chapter and in the future, you will hopefully receive a detailed one.