Chapter 09 | The Last of Peace
The Uchiha compound was a graveyard of silence. Mio craved the unnerving bustle for which it was known for after her experience in Kurata. She thought removing it from her head would help her forget the conversation she shared with Enya and the painless sleep that ensnared her for twelve days, but the memory stayed fresh as she sauntered through the front entrance to the solemnity of its usual occupants.
Eijiro's great-granddaughter greeted her, shouting from across the room while waving her chubby arms over her head before hurling herself into her arms. Mio caught her with a grunt. At three years old, the small girl weighed more than the average child did, but nobody stopped Eijiro from sneaking candy into her hand or her father from setting a bad example. Mio berated them both at one point or another, being the only witness brave enough to do so. However, neither Eijiro nor Taiga saw reason.
"You promised to visit!" protested Minako, hands balled into tiny fists. She was barely coherent, but she could talk to you about anything. "You promised to come last week to explore the forest together!"
Mio doted on Minako because she spent as much time at the compound as she did at home, going back and forth between the two places between and after missions.
She set the mousy-haired girl on the ground, crouching down to eye level. She gestured at her left cheek with her index finger. "Give me a kiss and we'll go now."
Minako brightened. Wrapping her arms around her neck, she pressed a big wet kiss on her cheek. Mio ruffled the girl's hair and took her by the hand, leading her away.
There were fewer people inside, save Minako's mother, who was once a maid until Taiga impregnated and married her. She was a pretty young woman with glossy blond hair and a slender physique. She was kind, courteous, and deserving of a man that loved her, but she was simpleminded. So long as Minako remained in her life, she was happy with whatever world she inhabited. It seemed admirable for a civilian, but she couldn't imagine a life like that for herself. She would never consent to something she found disagreeable, even if there was a child involved. She expected a childless, husbandless life awaited her and with that she was content, so long as she continued being useful.
"Daddy went to the desert again," piped Minako, stumbling over words. "He said he'll bring me a souvenir. Have you been to the desert?"
"Once," Mio replied, swinging their hands back and forth between them. "But I don't think it counted. I only saw it from afar. I went to one of the bordering villages and it was like enduring two summers."
Minako blinked curiously. "Do you think it's hotter in the desert?"
Mio nodded, turning away from a sudden tug of grogginess. Something had come over her, a wave of vertigo or a similar affliction. She felt it creeping up on her, weighing in her legs and hammering in her chest. They didn't make it past the entrance before it rendered her to her knees and the dizziness forced her to dispense the contents of her stomach with a violent, aching cough. The acid burned in her throat and she teetered to her side, falling heavily on the ground but feeling nothing.
She only felt numb.
Minako screamed, pushing against her arm for a response but Mio found the clouds outside and closed her eyes to the sight of them.
The sound of wind chimes welcomed her alongside clashing metal and dripping water. Mio resurfaced from the dark waters of sleep to a light rain and a familiar verandah. She seated herself, strands of hair feathering past her neck, and looked at the tall grass waving in the breeze, seated before a stretch of forestry that went on for days. She was home where the smell of coconut was strong in the air and the floors were always polished.
"Mio?"
Mio looked off her shoulder. She heard Izuna's voice but it was Madara's face she saw. She dropped her gaze back to her hands. She didn't make a mistake. The crunch of grass prepared her for his approach. He leaned over the verandah's frame, peering down at her.
"Did something else happen?"
Mio met his gaze minutely, taken aback. "I promised Minako we'd go exploring," she said, groggy, listening to the rain beating on his back. "I think I threw up on her and died and went to hell."
Madara scowled. "You're not dead, stupid."
She zeroed in on him, voice low and toneless. "Have you seen the kinder version of yourself?"
"Izuna went to the Wind Country," he responded, ignoring the insult.
"Message?"
"Warning," he corrected. "The old hag went as well."
"Why are you here?" she asked, subduing a grin.
"Don't piss me off, Mio." Madara walked to the steps, picking up a towel from the ground to dry his hair. She assumed he stayed behind watching her as his punishment. "If you can get up, find Kana."
Kana reminded her of food and the thought upset her stomach.
"Why am I outside?" she asked wondrously.
Madara slid open the door, glimpsing at her. "Because you like the rain."
Mio found it disturbing that he knew that. She dropped back on the cushioned futon and drew the blankets to her chin. She stared past the ceiling above her head to the gray sky that unfurled across the heavens, shedding sparse tears throughout the Fire Country. She liked how it seemed the rain could cleanse the earth of anything; wash the filth away to nothingness with a sound so soothing it eased her back into a dreamless sleep.
A light smack to her cheek stirred her from darkness. Mio's eyes fluttered open to the shaa of a heavy downpour and a flickering candle above her head.
Madara crouched beside her, holding a crumpled paper in his fist. "Can you travel?"
She yawned, heavy limbed and exhausted. "I think so," she grumbled. "Did something happen?"
"I can't say," he answered, shifting in discomfort. "We received a hawk. The Elders summoned us to the compound. It's urgent."
It was a worrisome thought. The last time the Elders sent out a summons was thirty-seven years ago. Two dozen birds took wing and called the entire clan back to the compound when war ravaged Uchiha territory, leaving unspeakable casualties that led to ongoing incongruities between them and the Motou clan of the, then, Sun Temples. After a decade-long war, the congregation relocated to a small island nation, privately governed by an emperor, east of the Lightning Country where their treaties were strongest and the Uchiha's wrath could not reach them.
Mio feared the current situation might be similar even if it didn't involve the Motou or the deaths of so many of their shinobi, but it was grave. Madara sensed it too, she read the shadows that lined his face and saw that she was not alone in her qualms.
She carried the weight of her enervation on her shoulders, pushing her body onto a seat. She wondered how many days had passed since she last left Chika and Izuna at the port city, obeying him with knowledge that she had done wrong in provoking Madara. He hated mind games. She was good at them. They both knew that better than anyone else did.
"Be ready to leave in half an hour," he said stiffly, rising to his feet. "The faster we leave the better. We can arrive in the morning if we take fewer rest stops."
Mio waited for his leave to stand on wobbly legs. She used the railing for support, her feet prickled and felt heavier than usual as she edged her way towards the door. It was a long strenuous walk that took her ten minutes to reach her bedroom and another five to search her closet for a change of clothes and dress into them. She gathered her traveling bags, carrying weapons and extra clothes, on her way out. The walk served as a warm-up to the venture back outside.
Kana was picking the futon off the ground and folding it, making use of the candlelight. She caught her watching and smiled sweetly. Kana crossed the distance between them, reaching to touch her face.
"You had me worried," Kana whispered, eyes glittering. "You're still so pale. Are you at least feeling any better? Maybe you should stay here."
"Just woozy," she admitted, enjoying the warmth of the cook's hand. "My legs are heavy, my whole body is heavy, but I'll be fine."
Kana removed her hand and hoisted the futon in her arms. "Wait here. I'll bring you food to take with you."
"Thank you."
She couldn't think of saying that the mere idea of food made her queasy, but even if it did, she needed to eat. She would force it down her throat if it meant regaining some of her strength.
Kana returned as quickly as she had scampered away with a box, looking apologetic because there were only rice cakes available. Mio didn't mind, she thanked her. Any sustenance was good.
Madara stepped out shortly, ready to leave. Kana left after bidding them farewell and luck, though he didn't look as appreciative for it as she felt. The moment dictated amicability and she wouldn't be the one to shatter it. They would be peaceful, even if they were the only two summoned and things were bound to get tense.
Mio and Madara traveled far in the span three hours, scaling the tallest trees as the rain drenched them to the bone and the moon lighted their way. Her legs were throbbing and her heart beating in her head when he finally signaled for them to stop.
"You need to rest," he announced.
"Rest?" she challenged, breathing haggardly with her hands on her knees. "I don't need to rest. Let's keep going."
He stared at her evenly. "Okay, let's keep going."
When he turned away, she grabbed his arm desperately. "I need to rest."
"There is an old cottage around here. We can stay until the storm lifts." He started down a clear path through the trees. "And next time I suggest a break and you need it, take it."
"Yes."
Mio dreaded the remainder of the walk because she knew the road from a memory that could have been a dream. She wanted to keep going despite her throbbing legs and wooziness because the cottage wouldn't have been an option if they were miles away, but she needed to rest as much as she had to see the remnants of her broken childhood home.
The trip proved shorter than she would have liked.
Madara stepped in cautiously. She stalled, pain forgotten, memorizing every damaged detail. It was as small as she remembered, smaller when she stepped closer, but she hadn't grown too tall since she last walked through the doorway. The cottage was run down, weathered and uninhabited for the last six years with its front door missing and its walls damaged by rotting wood, streaked with cracks.
Madara peered outside. "How long do you plan to stand there?"
Mio walked in prepared to see the indoor ruins. She stalked around in mild amazement, running her fingers across the brittle walls and touching countertops and fallen tables. The destruction reigned upon it the night she dreamt of so vividly remained intact, forever preserved. Thieves had not dared raided it, everything was still as she recalled only now it looked every bit a part of the forest.
She breathed in and it smelled of dust and wood. The tiny cluttered kitchen came into view and the ghost of her mother appeared, scrawling across a paper she sped across the room to deliver. She stood, dripping and cold, hair glued to her face and felt a tightness in her chest.
She felt suffocated.
"I heard this has been abandoned for a while now," said Madara, emerging from the hall. He explored the house in its entirety, ensuring how safe it was for them to dwell in before leaving his bags in the corner by the fireplace.
"Six years," she clarified softly. "It's been six years."
There was still blood on the walls and floors, old and browned, and even darker memories in her heart.
"Do you know what happened?"
Mio turned utterly confused. "You don't?"
"Should I?"
Yes, she wanted to demanded, but she really wished she wasn't sharing this moment with Madara. "An Uchiha couple lived here," she said, picking up the square table from the ground and set it upright. It wobbled and creaked, but it stood strong. She heaved her bags onto it, ridding herself of their weight. "They were killed here, too. The blood is still on the ground, dry and brown. Everything is either broken or toppled and even some of the wall suffered, probably from a fight."
He arched an eyebrow, curious. "It's surprising it's still around after so long."
"Yes, it is."
She walked to him and crouched near the fireplace, still hearing the sound of her father chopping wood outside, and reached to the sodden pile in the corner. She searched for anything that would catch fire to keep them warm from the wind whistling through the cracks.
"Who killed them?"
His pursuit of the subject annoyed her as she started a small fire, but she answered as expected of her. "Another shinobi from an unknown clan."
The rustle of clothes sounded behind her as he started to undress. He sneered. "How weak do you think they were? Killed by one shinobi?"
She bit her lip, swallowing the bile. "I don't think they were weak," she said, too sharply.
"Then why are they dead?" he mocked.
"Because they had someone they had to protect," she answered evenly, facing the replay of events in her head. She closed her eyes, holding her face as the flame spread along the logs, burning brightly.
"Had? Nobody has to do anything if their life is at stake."
"If someone put a knife to Izuna's neck and asked you to choose between your life and his, what would you do?" she asked, biting back tears as they filled her eyes. "You can't kill them. That option doesn't exist."
"Kill them," he stated. "If it doesn't exist, I'll make it exist."
"You would try to make the difference," she corrected lightly, but all she heard was her mother whispering her name as she died on her lap. "What makes you think they didn't try?"
"But they failed. I won't."
"Just because they're dead doesn't mean they failed."
"What did they accomplish in death anyways? Do you know?"
"I'm alive because of them," she said, getting to her feet. She glimpsed at him. "I'm going to look through the rooms."
Mio left him to his thoughts, not bothering to read the expression on his face, and ventured in the short hallway. She entered the first room on her left, the door opened and closed behind her noiselessly. The wide bed her parents once shared sat lopsided with a broken headboard, to the left a squat table sat where her mother used to sleep and the dressers on the opposite wall were covered in thin, black tendrils of forestry. Vines and leaves crept from the window, claiming everything in their reach, making it seem as though it had been longer than the six years.
She didn't touch anything as she climbed onto the bedding. It sank under her weight, creaking with every move she made. She dropped down on it. The mattress sagged and the springs irritated her side but she remembered all the times she slept between her parents with Kikyo's fingers running through her hair and Genji's warmth embracing her during the biting cold. She closed her eyes.
She didn't want to see their ghosts anymore. They wouldn't leave her yet. There were so many things left for her to do before that happened.
Mio woke to Madara's voice for the second time that day and she begun to see it as a bad omen. She looked up at him, curled on the broken bed. Her sodden clothes sagged against her and her skin was colder than a corpse's.
"Come back in five minutes," she said groggily.
"Kikyo and Genji," he said suddenly. "They were your parents."
He almost sounded accusing.
"Yes, they were my parents."
"Is that why you're a spy? Because they were too?"
Mio pushed herself onto a seat, eying him suspiciously. "What do you want?"
"Did you tell Izuna?"
"Tell Izuna what?"
"That your parents were killed here?"
"Sachiyo-sama told him."
"She didn't tell me," he complained.
"You never asked," she pointed out.
"Why didn't you say something?"
Mio shrugged, feeling badgered. "Because it's irrelevant."
"Just like what happened in Kurata with Enya?" he snapped.
It sounded like the real reason why he woke her. He only needed something to be outraged about and it came in the form of her parents. She hated this about him. He never got straight to the point unless he was boiling over in fury.
"You never asked about that either," she declared.
"You never told me."
"I don't have to tell you everything."
"I carried you on my back for fourteen days!" he reminded her. "You should have been obligated to tell me what happened."
"It's not important—"
"It is," he proclaimed. "It is because he knew I was coming. He was sure I'd be the one to come for you."
Mio unconsciously tapped into her anger. "You shouldn't have come!"
"You should be thanking me," he growled, too close for comfort and she felt her stomach knot. "If I hadn't gone, who would have saved you?"
"I'm not so useless that I need saving," she said strongly. "I have trained just as hard as you both and I can hold my own, you are just so determined to find something wrong with me. I'm fine."
"Twisted is what you are," he retorted just as strongly. "I've seen what you do to people—"
"There is nothing wrong with me," she repeated, sliding away from him.
"You manipulated Hiryuu into attacking you and Sachiyo into hating him and that stupid cook—"
"Leave her out of this! Why do you have to be so stupid?" she interrupted. "Kana has nothing to do with anything. She takes care of me."
"How many more people do you plan to manipulate?" he continued, unfazed with her outburst. "Eijiro and Taiga are forever in your favor and suddenly Jouji can see you do no wrong. Do you think that is any way to make a name for yourself? Or is it that you plan on using this praise to take rein of the clan and probably avenge your parents?"
"You are so stupid." She wanted to slap him. The swell of anger turned into a wave of tears that burned in her eyes. "Why can't you just tell me what you want without starting a fight?"
Madara left his seat. "Stop being an idiot!"
"I'm not the idiot!" she shouted as he stormed out.
Mio fell on the bed with an exasperated sigh, springs squeaking, and felt something near her hand. She glanced down to the pile of clothes sitting where Madara was once seated. He brought her dry clothes. She changed into them, feeling comfortable and warmer instantly.
She wanted to apologize even though she did nothing wrong, but the last thing she wanted was to upset him further. In the moments they spent without Izuna and Sachiyo, she acted as the peacekeeper. She didn't always agree with the right decision, but Sachiyo wouldn't be receiving the greatest of news when they killed each other. She owed her everything now, it would be cruel to repay her that way, but she didn't see the importance of getting along with someone that wasn't going to be genuine about the same thing either. They were good liars.
However, this was something she needed to do, for Sachiyo and Izuna's sake.
It was that thought that powered her walk out the room and to the fireplace where he was seated facing the fires dancing in silence. She took a seat to his left drawing her legs to her chest and rested her head on his shoulder, blinded by the brightness of the flames.
"Sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?" he grumbled.
"Because you won't."
He harrumphed.
"I did consider wanting Izuna to help me," she admitted, "but Enya told me it would be you. He said it confidently as if he just knew that it could only be done if you were the one to help me and before I could confirm it—well, I remember sleeping."
"How did he know?"
"How did you know?"
"Izuna was better with the girl. If he went, I would have left her and gone after him."
"You're too rash and impatient," she said with a nod.
"You're not the first one to tell me."
"I won't be the last."
Madara glanced at her and back to the flames. "The hag wouldn't have liked it if you died, so I went," he said, sounding like it took every bit of effort to admit it. "She pulled me aside before we left and decided that if anything happened to you, it'd be my fault."
"Obligation sounds better than charity."
"You shouldn't be an easy target."
Mio sat upright, looking at him. She ignored the upsetting factor of that statement. Even on guard, Enya would have overpowered her and she had known she had no fighting chance the moment he saved her from that fall. "My father taught me to acknowledge defeat, not as a wound but as room for improvement," she told him. "I never agreed with him. Defeat was dying or humiliation and the best option is always dying knowing you fought at the peak of your ability. There are rarely any Uchiha that recover from dishonor."
"But you agree with him now."
"No. Surrender is weakness." Kikyo always said those words and she stood alongside her husband on equal grounds. "I thought the Elder would take me to where the others were and once there, I could learn more about them. I would stay a prisoner until I found a way out because I believed you would continue the mission, but we only made it across the bridge when you came for me. I wasn't admitting defeat; I was preparing to keep fighting."
"And you're angry that I showed up," he decided.
"I'm not angry. You just make me angry."
"You're no different," he said defensively.
"I know when to make peace."
"Only if it's convenient to you."
Mio left her seat, abandoning the conversation. She didn't have to answer that even if it was the truth. She busied herself by her bags, sifting through her things and tugged out the rice cakes Kana provided for her. She ate as much as she was able before the heavy rain lifted and they gathered their things to make the remainder of the journey.
The compound was bustling with Uchiha from the nearest branches, but the first familiar face she saw in the crowd was her estranged aunt's in all its scowling glory. Konoe was surrounded by people in the same division as hers to whom she was barking orders to, making the strongest of men wince at the sound of her voice.
Mio lingered behind the largest shinobi walking past her feeling Konoe scan the crowd for someone in need of shouting and she learned from years of experience that she was the perfect victim. Since they worked on opposite sides of the spectrum, they rarely met and when they did, even a single day felt like a hundred years.
"Looks like bad news," mumbled Madara, pushing past drooping tree branches. He walked straight into the bustle expecting her to follow, but Konoe's hawkish gaze was already pursuing him through the crowd and Mio ducked under a pair of scented bushes.
The leaves and berries were covered in fresh moisture from the last shower. The hanging branches dripped fresh water across her back. Twigs snapped and the earth squelched signaling the arrival of more shinobi, accompanying the rustle of trees and a collective curiosity ringing through the crowds in forms of questions and suppositions.
Mio snuck glances over the bushes until Konoe disappeared inside the building and scampered onto her feet. She slipped between people, sneaking inside behind a pair of kunoichi. Mio dawdled along, following the stream of people, in search of Madara.
"Where did you disappear to?"
She whirled around, feeling a hand on her arm. "To the bushes."
Madara dragged her to the junction between the main hall and the empty council room. She threw furtive looks over her shoulder to the door shutting behind them. He dropped his hold on her and waited for her to match his stride as they walked.
"Why were you in the bushes?"
"Has anyone talked to you?" she asked quickly. "Do you know what happen?"
"No, but Taiga's wife said they wanted us in this building."
'They' gave her a horribly cold feeling and as if she were psychic, Konoe stood by the council room's entrance with Hikaku, the strongest Uchiha in the clan. He was a tall man with fine features and brown hair tied in a high ponytail, dressed ordinarily as though he had been there long before the rest arrived. Jouji sat at the long table with Katsura to his left discussing the contents of a scroll in hush voices. Minako's mother entered the room from a short hallway looking exhausted as she gestured her over. There were a few faces in the handful of people standing or sitting around the room that she didn't recognize. A pair of kunoichi clothed from head to toe with only their vigilant eyes peeking between the clothes, a middle-aged man standing imposingly with his arms crossed over his chest and his back to the wall and a withering old man with few wisps of white hair and pale blind eyes that followed the soft padding of their feet.
Madara left her side to join Jouji and Katsura at the table where he easily picked up the conversation.
Mio cast a look to her aunt, feeling the burn of her eyes on her back, and smiled in greeting knowing she would hate that. She stepped into the hallway with the golden-haired girl and followed her into a room at the end, hearing the clasp of the shoji behind her. Minako was lying stretched across a futon sleeping soundly.
"Do you want tea?"
"Yes, please."
Sako was only eighteen, sweet and polite with eyes the shade of glaring water. She minded her manners, treating everyone equally respectful.
Mio received the mug handed to her and took a sip of warm, red tea. The strong flavor was sweetened with honey and it warmed her as quickly as it went down.
"I have a change of clothes for you." Sako had just taken a seat and scrambled back onto her feet. She slid open a closet and started tugging clothes from inside. She turned to her. "Do you want a bath? I can prepare a bath for you."
Mio pushed the hair out of her face. "Did Taiga tell you what happened?"
Sako returned to her seat in front of Mio, glancing nervously at the door. "He wrote to me," she whispered, leaning over to place the clean clothes on in Mio's hands. "I fear something terrible has happened to Eijiro-san and his group."
Mio took a gulp from her tea. "Is everyone coming here?"
"Yes, he's told me not to lose sight of Minako, not even for a minute," she answered frantically. "Do you think something terrible will happen?"
"I'm sure it can be handled," Mio lied. She felt an odd chill in her bones. "The clan has been through far worse and it's recovered, but I doubt whatever happened now is near as terrible."
Sako smiled, a great portion of her worries had been dispelled with the confidence in her voice.
Mio finished her tea and excused herself to change behind a shoji screen. She tugged on a pair of trousers and a loose shirt under a long-sleeved kimono top belted at the waist.
"Come here. Let me brush your hair." Sako dragged a cushion in front of her and patted it.
"That's fine. I don't—"
The expectant look on her face won her over. She plopped onto the cushion and let Sayo run a comb through the tangles in her matted hair until it fell in smooth shallow waves. She almost felt horrible about tying it up since it never looked so nice, but she hated leaving it down.
Without new information and the murmurs in the main room dispersing when everyone took the staircase up to their temporary lodgings, Mio realized night had fallen. The entire second floor had been prepared to house a certain number of their clansmen until the Elders congregated and revealed the reason for the summons.
Madara called her out into the council room. She thanked Sako properly and followed him up a flight of stairs to a room on their right.
"Did she tell you anything?" he asked, setting his bags on the ground.
Mio did the same, claiming the area beneath the squared window. "Taiga sent a separate letter to her," she answered, tugging out her clothes. Everything had gotten drenched in the downpour. "He asked her to keep an eye on Minako."
"Hikaku thinks Eijiro is dead."
"Sako said it involved him, but Taiga didn't elaborate."
"What do you think?"
"We have to hope Sachiyo and Izuna get here before Hiryuu or Taiga."
xl note: I feel like I am doing the impossible, but I'll do my best to make it work. Things will be taking a harsh turn in the following chapters. Many thanks to Bubbles227, Aries01xD, and WiltingInsanity for reviewing! Extra props to the people who took the time to reread it and for the feedback! :)
I'll be gone for the next week, so the chances of a faster update is unlikely. If anything I promise one for the 31st.
Preview for the next chapter is up at my LJ, link in my profile.