Chapter 16 | Goodbye
Taiga failed to protect the brittle peace his grandfather established. In a matter of days, it seemed obvious how the Uchiha clan would split apart. The skirmishes outside ceased with Hikaku's leave and with him left several of the strongest genjutsu users. Tajima proposed an ideal situation to many of the remaining shinobi whose loyalties were torn between the remaining Elders and those that agreed to follow him were place under Katsura's leadership, who left with them to their Wind Country dwellings where everyone would await further instruction while Tajima left on a secret mission of his own.
In the end, Taiga's twisted ideals and questionable reputation left him with the least followers and a deadly rage that had already killed three members of the compound's staff and five of Hiryuu's followers. Everyone that remained was waiting for Sachiyo to reach the compound because the rights to the building had yet to be claimed.
Truthfully, to Mio, it was another excuse to kill each other. That was what would become of the feared Uchiha clan.
"You scared Sako half to death."
It took Mio hours to convince Taiga's panicking wife to calm down and watch Minako properly after her husband eviscerated his sixth shinobi that week. He did it callously and in silent glee as the blood marked his face. He put the remains on display in Konoe's sleeping quarters and brought the man's head to a terse breakfast with Hiryuu that morning where his wife was carrying the dishes. Jouji attempted to reason with him, calling his actions unnecessary to their situation.
Hiryuu had shinobi loyal to him, men and women that respected him, and if in that moment, he had decided to attack him head-on, the outcome would be simple. Taiga would die.
"Who sent you?" Taiga's voice was crisp and cold, his back turned to her.
They were surrounded by high trees and clusters of mushrooms. The distant rush of the river lingered in the backdrop, filling the air with the fragrance of the herbs sprouting from the rocks beneath the surface.
"We need to talk about Hiryuu."
Taiga shook his head. "No," he said, turning with eyes full of menace. "We need to kill Hiryuu."
Mio approached him cautiously, bare feet whispering across the grass. She exhaled deeply when she reached him, dispelling the breath that caught in her throat when she spotted him overlooking a dangerous precipice that divided Uchiha territory from Senju territory.
"I don't want to kill Hiryuu," she admitted, her sentiments stirred into a cluster of unknown. She disliked talking about the Elder more than she did mulling over the things he was to blame. "It's not important."
Taiga's hands clenched into fists as he restrained himself from attacking her. "We are not the same," he stated, dripping poison. "I can't overlook his involvement with the Mikazuki clan any longer. I might have hated my grandfather's guts, but he was still my family and Hiryuu's the reason he's now dead. He's torn this clan apart Mio, how much do you want to let him get away with before you think it's okay to kill him?"
Mio lowered her eyes to the barely lit ground. "What difference will death make?" she asked lowly. "He'll be dead."
"And I'll have the satisfaction of having killed him!" shouted Taiga, grabbing her by the shoulders roughly. "See it through my eyes, Mio! You should understand after the way Gouki murdered your family."
She flinched, his grip tightening. "I already saw it through your eyes," she answered. "You had to save me from the consequences and then you blackmailed me for the last six years on the subject while promising to leave him alone."
"But he hadn't killed my grandfather yet!"
"He didn't kill your grandfather at all," she shot back.
"He ordered it. We're not discussing the dynamics of the crime but the reason," he snapped, fingers digging into her skin. "Why is my grandfather dead?"
Mio sucked in a breath, steadying her feet over the slippery grass. "You can attack him. You can make this public. Tell the whole world that the Uchiha clan broke apart because one man died at the expense of another's betrayal and you might as well launch a full-scale attack on all of us. What good is any of this if we're all dead? What chance do anyone of us have if our enemies get together to destroy our legacy? We're in more danger now than we were when Hiryuu was the only problem."
She moved her right foot back and felt herself slip. He dropped his hold on her and she fell hard on her back, scraping her elbows on the tiny rocks hidden underneath the grass. She hissed, rolling onto her stomach to push her body off the ground.
"Go back to the compound, Mio."
"I'm sorry about your grandfather," she said quietly, returning to her feet. "But you can't do anything to Hiryuu without the Mikazuki clan getting involved and we…" She trailed off hesitantly.
Taiga stepped further into the shade of the trees, leaving Mio in the center of it all with her heart hammering in her head. The emotion welled up, combining with the physical pain, and she pinched the bruise on her arm and sobbed quietly into the silence unable to leave.
Taiga chased the servants out of the compound and ordered Jouji to escort his wife and daughter to a safer location earlier that morning. Hiryuu finally had enough sense to send Konoe to meet the rest of his supporters, promising to drag Mio with him to a chime of protests.
Sometime in between, Sachiyo sent a message to the compound ordering Izuna to the Waterfall Country and urging Madara to remain with Mio at the compound for her arrival.
Mio didn't expect to be angry for so long that she couldn't shake the feeling of inadequacy that came with it. She wanted to say goodbye to Izuna, wish him well and say she's sorry because she would be soon enough, but at the same time, she wanted none of those things. She wished she was coldhearted enough to ignore him when he approached her, but she couldn't help facing him or crossing the distance between them to wrap her arms around his neck tightly.
Izuna stiffened, taken aback by the sudden change in her demeanor, but accepted it just as he would any hug she parted with. He held her strongly and it felt right. It was everything his brother had told him to avoid in the last hundred conversations they had concerning Mio. He couldn't help it. Not when they had six years of history of growing together, of trusting each other and confining their secrets except, of course, those he learned in the compound recently. It bothered him to realize that there were details in her life she couldn't entrust with him.
"I'm sorry, Izuna," she whispered, grip steadily tightening with the falter in her voice. "I promise not to keep anything from you again." She pulled away, staring at him with furrowed eyebrows. "I'll tell you everything you want to know when we see each other again."
Izuna smiled and pulled her back into his arms. "Take care of Madara."
She nodded against his shoulder.
"Take care of yourself."
She kissed his cheek and moved back away from his arms. He gave her another smile before turning to his brother, who had been standing behind them the whole time, observing the exchange in silence. "Take care of Mio."
"Yes," grumbled Madara. "Go before the hag sends another hawk saying you're not there yet."
Izuna laughed.
Mio blinked and he was gone.
"I had to say those things, you know that."
She turned to Madara slowly, discarding the urge to shout at him. "Say what?"
Madara looked disgruntled.
She didn't want to take his half-assed apology without him acknowledging that he said she barely felt the death of her parents. It was the worst insult he had ever uttered and she had too strong a reaction to let him get away with it just because they had a secret deal between them.
"The thing about your parents. I know you have nightmares because of it," he said quickly, and she was curious about how he knew that. "I'm building up your image. It'll be easier for Izuna."
She stared at the ground between them, willing to forgive him for the awful things he said. She nodded slowly. "Why can't we tell Izuna?"
"The less people know the better." Madara stepped closer. "Things will work out better now. You have a connection out there. You have somewhere to go and you'll be able to keep Sako and Minako safe like you wanted. You just need to wait for me and make sure Taiga doesn't die while you do it."
She never wanted this day to come. She prayed to several deities that they never had to succumb to playing out the plan they concocted during the first week of their arrival, back when Eijiro was still alive and he could still be saved. She didn't want to step out of Sachiyo's shadow, but she pledged her loyalty to Madara offering to him her skill as a spy, however limited that was, and the assurance that she would follow through with all his orders, no questions asked.
"How long do I have to wait?" she asked lowly. And for what? He gave her few details on the complete plan and forbade her from questioning him about it further, saying it would make sense when the time came but that he would unite the Uchiha clan if it came to a split in power.
Footsteps were approaching. "That doesn't matter," he whispered harshly. "Just wait. I'll go get you when everything's ready. Just don't stop training; you'll be useless to me otherwise."
She surprised him with a hug. He stilled in her arms and didn't return it. She whispered goodbye to him, tightening her hold for a short second before heading out into the hallway in time to catch Taiga approaching the entrance ready to leave.
He paused, staring her down. "I already made my offer to you," he said roughly. He looked terrible, as one expected of a lunatic. His eyes were wide and emotionless, his lips chapped and bloody, his nails were bitten down, and he had dark circles. "You know where to find me. I'll only wait a week."
She stepped in front of him as he tried going around her and looked him straight in the eyes. She didn't have many options with Hiryuu and Madara being the only people left in the compound once Taiga removed himself from the equation and while she trusted in Madara's ability to hold his own against the elder, she didn't trust the Elder in challenging him outright. He could sneak into her room and steal her away and she wouldn't be strong enough to fight him. Taiga was the foundation of her fragile defense.
With him gone, she would be in constant danger, so it was now or never. "I'm going now."
xl: The scene that ruined my life, ruined my life so I traded it in for a better idea. That's why these two chapters are approximately 2200 words together. I omitted the previous scene from this because it made me feel better and it needed to stand on its own.
So take these two chapters as next week's prize for winning the Week #3 poll. The new one's up, but it'll be up for 2 weeks instead of one for busy schedule reasons. This was a decision I made a while back, but it also works in my favor.
I'm going to sit on the next few chapters since Kishimoto started the Hashirama and Madara flashback in the manga and see if I can get some canon into my non-canon. Widdle Hashirama and Madara are adorable...hehe. So that's that.
That said, you can expect a time skip again, but unlike the last time skip, I won't just skip to the next big events because all the stuff in the middle is important. I am trying a different style in which each chapter details a whole year of events, all split in Madara, Izuna, and Mio's POV because they'll be in different locations at different times where some character growth should start happening.
At this moment, I have the most important events planned and spread out over the years when they take place.
If you're curious about anything, please ask. I'm here all week.
Thank you for reading!
P.S. I'm not posting a preview for the time skip chapters. You can just read the summary in my livejournal, first entry.