Redesign

by xLilim

Complete / Life is a fickle thing, but death is certain. MadaraOC

18. Serpent Waters 1

Chapter 18 | Serpent Waters I

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Spring arrived in a dark cloud.

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The ground beneath her feet rumbled as though it were the cry of a slumbering beast disturbed. Those outside tried to keep themselves upright until the tremors seized alongside the fall of the mountain erected beyond the trees that surrounded the Waterfall Country. Battlefields began appearing throughout the continent, reaching as far as the neutral Iron Country and involving its army of samurai.

Sachiyo recalibrated herself, straightening her clothes and smoothing her hair back. She took in a shuddering breath and continued up the stairway to meet Tomoji to discuss matters in the Sun Country with the unyielding Motou clan and the expected involvement of the Senju clan. Madara seemed to be failing on his end, whereas Izuna was in the midst of battle beyond the trees after months of harsh, continuous training fighting alongside the Ito clan.

She entered the room to find Tomoji facing the window, dressed for battle in moss green armor over a dark outfit underneath. He made constant trips to and from the Ito village to ensure the safety of the children he could not yet ship to war and the incapacitated. He left her a sizable group to command if the war reached the waterfall masking the entrance into his territory.

"Good, you've come," he said curtly, acknowledging her presence. "How is your health?"

She inclined her head in greeting. "Better," she replied. "How is the battle?"

"We are taking a risk in our next play, but I trust Izuna won't fail. He has already wounded their commanding officer. I can guarantee a win for today, but I have lost many shinobi and I will need support from the Motou clan."

He sounded annoyed, not bothering to disguise his displeasure with Madara's progress.

"Have you news of Madara?" she asked cordially.

"Yes. He recently clashed with Senju Hashirama. He proposed a deal, I heard, to have a single fight decide whether or not he decapitated the king." Tomoji's eyebrows creased wondrously. "The fight ended in a draw and for the moment, the Sun Country is expected to be quiet. Despite the Elders wishing to return to the Senju clan's side, the king is quite fond of your grandson."

"After he put a price on his head?"

"My men claim it was the king's own idea. He wanted to gamble. He enjoys games, much like you." Tomoji unfolded his arms and let them drop to his sides. "Madara is recovering well, and I hear he has befriended a young priestess to distract him for the while."

"A priestess?"

"Yes, a girl called Yayoi. She amuses him."

"I am not fond of distractions."

"Of course," Tomoji said with an appreciative nod and a sly smile. "I've asked Takuei to eliminate her if she becomes troublesome to our common goal…"

He trailed off, jaw slacken at whatever sight lay outdoors.

"What is it?" she demanded, stepping before the window. She spotted the strange man immediately, dressed in pale clothes and furs. "A Kuronuma."

"The Kuronuma. I recognize this one. Shinya." Tomoji's frown deepened. "He is Musashi's last remaining son."

Sachiyo's eyes narrowed in distaste and the man in question waved up at them with a goofy smile. "What a despicable man."

"Have you had the honor?" Tomoji asked.

"Most definitely," called a voice behind them.

Sachiyo whirled around with a short dagger drawn at the same time Tomoji turned with a killer's intent.

Kuronuma Shin sat behind the table. "No need to get thorny with me. I'm not here to pick a fight."

The man seated before her was Mio's grandfather. Many years ago, he incited a rebellion against his father and left Kurata, which led to his meeting with Chiho, who would become his Uchiha wife. Chiho had been her best friend until she was practically spirited away by the man to Kurata after his father assured him there would be no punishment for his stupidity. He was stealthier than a cat, noiseless even to the best ears, and she had always hated that about him.

"You trespassed into my territory, Shinya. You have already committed an offence against me," Tomoji stated.

"Would it help if I apologized?"

"No."

"Then I guess you can do whatever you want after we have this conversation and by we, I mean myself and Sachiko—"

"Sachiyo," she corrected. It was her youth all over again.

"Yeah, whatever." He gestured to the seat across him as if he were in the comfort of his own home, an annoying old habit of his. "Come, sit, let's have a chat. You can stay if you want Motoki. I'm sure she'll tell you anyways."

"Tomoji," the man corrected.

"Yeah, Tomoki." Shin leaned forward on his elbows. "Well, you really don't have to sit. You can just listen." He paused for effect. "Mio's found her way to me. She is now under Kuronuma custody as you wanted."

Sachiyo straightened at the mere name. It took several months, but Izuna finally stopped asking about her and she, herself, placed her memory in a distant corner of her head. "What makes you think I care what the girl has done? She's betrayed me."

"Ugh, you're so annoying," he blurted. "You'd think old age would help, but you're just as stubbornly unforgiving as always. Here's some advice, lady, live a little. Give people the benefit of the doubt once in a while. Sheesh."

She bristled. "You—"

"No, you listen—so she picked the wrong person for something she considered a good deed," he said with emphasis. "The only thing it says about her character isn't the stigma you're putting on her name. She wanted to protect two girls from an inevitable death and accomplished it. She has a lot more heart than you give her credit for."

"She should have come to me if it was so important."

"She has her reasons for doing what she did. Besides, you know better than anyone that Taiga is an important asset to the Uchiha clan. He dies and all his secrets die with him. Eijiro trusted him with bigger secrets than he gave you." He continued before she could formulate a response. "And what about you? You never told her I existed or that I wanted to take her with me—you let her believe she was an orphan, that she had no one. What were you going to tell her when you decided to ship her off to a stranger because you thought it was the right thing to do? Don't you think she would have felt betrayed? Just like you do now. She probably feels worse than you ever had. You and those grandchildren of yours were the only thing she came close to calling a family and she misses every one of you, especially the little one, and before you make a face, even the grumpy one."

Sachiyo felt something twist inside her, her heart ached again. She never considered any of that. It simply was betrayal and it ended there. She didn't give any thought to the rest. She did plan to ship her off to her grandfather to give her the family she deserved and now she wondered if it might have turned out as Shin said. Would she consider it a betrayal?

"…How is she?"

"Working hard. I've only had her a few months and she's a great kid, a boring teenager, but a great kid." Shin left his seat. "She's brilliant. Oh, and before I forget, don't worry, that girl will branch an alliance between the Kuronuma and Uchiha like you wanted."

"Are the Kuronuma planning—?"

"No, not yet, but the conversation is there. Your side doesn't have the right leader yet and mine doesn't have the right envoy. But the alliance will happen, not now, perhaps when we're dead and then some years, but the two will inevitably come together."

"Right leader?"

"Yes. All you need is the right person to clean up the stupid mess you Elders left behind and bring the clan together and voila, all will be well in the world."

It relieved her to hear that the Uchiha clan would come to be one again, but she also knew not to trust his prognostications because pathways changed. Chiho often stressed the importance of that. "How certain is Hag about this?"

"This only has one pathway." Shin turned away. "I apologize for the intrusion. I will leave you to your war. Oh, before I go." He looked over his shoulder. "Mio is neutral. She takes no part in the misery while she is with me. Relay that information to whoever cares to possess it."

Sachiyo spoke before she could stop herself. "Where is she now? Mio. Where is she?"

"Outside the building. You can see from the window."

She approached the window for confirmation and caught her staring in the direction of the war, dressed in the same fashion as her grandfather. It had only been six months, but each felt like a year, since the last time she saw her. It seemed like she grew a few inches during that time and her short hair had grown past her shoulders.

Sachiyo's attention was drawn by a cacophony of voices and she followed the source to find Izuna walking straight for Mio without realizing it. She waited for both of their reactions, unsure of whether to stop it from happening or allowing it because Mio owed Izuna some form of explanation. Mio owed everyone an explanation.

"He's gone," Tomoji grumbled.

Shin appeared outside, beckoning her as her grandson's group approached, beaten and bloody, from the harsh battlefield. "Mio, we're going."

Mio shot forward clumsily.

Izuna stopped dead in his tracks, having heard. "Mio?" The first time he said her name did not go unnoticed as he searched his surroundings for her. Sachiyo watched in horror when he spotted her trailing her grandfather. "Mio!"

Mio and Izuna made eye contact and everyone around them stopped to stare. Sachiyo watched the scene unfold as one she might have imagined in her childhood dreams, back when she'd been allowed to have any.

Both moved toward one another and when they crashed together in the center of everyone's attention, the only noise was the whistling wind. As quickly as their arms wrapped around one another, the two sunk to the ground together.

"Mio…you're heavy," Izuna complained, patting her shoulder.

Shin grabbed Mio by the back of her collar. "Let go of the boy," he commanded lightly. She did and he pulled her off Izuna, returning her to her feet. "Good."

"There are weights on the girl," Tomoji commented beside her.

Sachiyo noticed the tiny black bar sticking out from under her sleeve. "Why weights?"

Shin offered her grandson a hand and helped him up. "Sorry about waiting so long to get her off. I could see you turning blue, but I was amazed at how quickly she made it to you." He grinned at his granddaughter. "She's never had that sort of incentive before."

Izuna looked confused, but faced her completely. "Madara said you went with Taiga. This man is a…"

"Kuronuma. My mother's father. Shinya," she responded awkwardly. She fiddled with her sleeves. The conversation was not one she desired to engage in.

Sachiyo's heart sank. Izuna's lips split into a smile. "Are you back? I told grandma you'd come back."

The tone in his voice broke her heart. He understood nothing and wouldn't because explaining any circumstances fueled his ideal of a reality that could not be.

Mio shook her head unable to look him in the eyes and spoke in a voice so soft she nearly missed the words she uttered. "No. I'm not back."

Slowly the curve of his lips fell away into a disappointment that matched his tenor. "Why are you here then?"

The girl reacted to his voice, slightly but noticeably.

"We're traveling to the Iron Country. She's training with me," Shin cut in. The relief in her was evident. "She is no longer in the custody of this Taiga you speak of, but that does not put her on your side either. The Kuronuma clan doesn't associate with other shinobi clans under any circumstances. We must go now. Come, Mio."

Izuna grabbed her by the wrist preventing her from turning. "You didn't betray us like Madara said right?" he asked in hopeful desperation. "You just went to find your grandfather and to take care of Sako and Minako, right? It doesn't make sense otherwise. Mio…"

Sachiyo opened her mouth to speak, but Tomoji stopped her. "Leave him. This is important for him."

"Mio," Izuna repeated. "You didn't betray us…did you? You're better than that. I know you…I—"

"Goodbye, Izuna," she said coldly, tugging free her wrist.

Sachiyo might have believed the girl felt nothing as she bid her grandson the last goodbye if not for the furrowed eyebrows and the way she looked as though she'd willingly let the earth open up to eat her. That girl hurt more than one couldn't possibly explain.

Shin and Mio were gone.

"Lovely match they'd make," Tomoji observed with a wry smile.

"It's unlikely," Sachiyo answered, watching her grandson take off in the opposite direction without a word. "Izuna would love her too much and she wouldn't love him enough."

"I don't see how you are so blind to it; you've seen it with your eyes."

She didn't need to see what she viewed as impossible. Mio could never love him, bound by servitude and loyalty; it wouldn't work beyond what it was now. Why could no one else see it?

"How are you acquainted with that man?" she asked for a change of pace.

"Your story for mine?" She shot him a deprecating look. "It's a fair trade."

She hated his easy smiles.

"He saved my friend's life once and once was all it took for him to fall in love with her." She pictured it so vividly in her mind, of waiting out in the rain for Chiho, a sensor, to return to the camp after she had accompanied her father to a harsh battlefield and expecting the worst to occur when Shinya appeared with the unconscious woman in his arms. That should have been the first and last time he appeared anywhere near the Uchiha clan, but it wasn't. He kept coming back for Chiho—an annoying, spoiled man wanted nothing more than to be with her. Sachiyo couldn't stand him because he was an outsider, a betrayer, and above all unrealistic. "We've never agreed on anything and because I was an impediment to their already doomed relationship, he took Chiho from the clan. She returned a few years later with a child and told me everything she knew about the Kuronuma clan that lived hidden in Mt. Hyōga where the seasons were strange and the people stranger."

"That all?" he queried.

"That's all."

"I expected a more exciting tale."

"I'm sure yours will be enough to satisfy your need."

"I've had the honor to meet him fresh out of Mt. Hyōga. I nearly killed him believing him to be another stupid bandit crossing my father's camp. He was a bloody coward. Nothing worth the fame he has as a guardian—"

"A what?"

Tomoji regarded her befuddled. "Don't you know the rumors spoken of the Kuronuma?"

"Ritualistic cannibals with a proclivity towards young children. What more is there to know other than the fact that they are a shinobi clan that wishes to stay neutral in a world committed to chaos?"

"Because anyone that's been around long enough is starting to think they're up in Mt. Hyōga protecting something," he divulged. "Do you know how long Shinya's been alive, or for that matter his father. If Shinya has a fifteen-year-old granddaughter, he should at least be over sixty, but he doesn't look a day over thirty. Today I saw him look just as I remembered him. Can you deny it?"

"No, I cannot, it's true that he hasn't aged a day since I last saw him, but perhaps he doesn't age as quickly as others. It's not uncommon."

"How do you explain his hundred-year-old father?"

"There must be another Musashi."

Tomoji shook his head. "They're rumored to be guardians of secret artifacts and as it is engrained in the Senju and Uchiha to war, it is in their minds to protect these treasures from the rest of the shinobi world. They are a Sacred clan, Sachiyo, not a clan of demons. Have you not encountered any of their oddities?"

Sachiyo exhaled deeply, moving away from the window as his words stirred a memory from deep in her mind. "There is a nameless woman, an old woman. They call her Hag. She reads pathways, sees things in dirt. Her word is law where the Kuronuma are concerned and it's said that's why they're so knowledgeable of things they shouldn't be."

"Pathways? Didn't you mention that during our earlier conversation?"

"Yes. If there are multiple pathways to her predictions, it's difficult to see an outcome and it comes down to the decision everyone involved makes. I don't believe in it, but sometimes you need something to hold onto…" She trailed off, reminded of something she forced back into darkness.

Tomoji's interest was tangible. She felt it once. "This Hag, where can one find her?"

"Capture a Kuronuma with a loose tongue," she said. "If one exists."

"That is most unfortunate." The man frowned. "How did you ever come across information on the Hag?"

Sachiyo ventured toward the staircase. "I need to send a message to Madara," she informed him, "and I do believe you have an army to command."

---

When the training started, Shin explained the weights were to increase her agility. "Kuronuma rely more on their physical strengths and speeds than they do on jutsu, but you also need strength and speed to use black water jutsu, so it balances out," he said between hammering a jagged blade into shape. "Agility training is first. Mental training is second. Heat training is third. Strength training is fourth. It's absolutely necessary that you do not learn out of order because each preceding art compliments the following and you can't do one without the other. Of course, some can be combined, but that depends on the trainee's progression, else the results could be disastrous."

"What's heat training?" she asked quizzically.

"Where you'll be increasing your body temperature."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"Done incorrectly it can be fatal, but we'll be in the right conditions. By then you'll be with the clan in Kurata more often than not and it won't hurt to be a few degrees warmer than you're used to," he explained. "For now, you'll just have to deal with the ever-increasing mass of your weights. One pound a day until you can function carrying twice your weight. We will double if your progress is good."

Mio stared at him as if she had been doused with cold water. "Twice my weight?"

"At your age, Kuronuma children are already carrying three times their own weight and you should see kids your age on the mountain, they're huge."

"What?"

He shrugged. "You could move a mountain if you wanted later in life. I can do it."

"What?" she sputtered. Impossible.

Shin grinned. "It was a joke." He gestured for her wrist and once offered to him, he secured the last string of the new weights in. "Up the mountain and back down. Once around the village as well. Stay within the border. I'll be watching you."

Mio nodded uncomfortably. She adjusted to the new weight and stared up the curving, treacherous road. She ran up the mountain once, up and down it, and then covered the perimeter of the nearby village before going up the dirt-packed route back home. The training itself started easy enough. He only expected her to pursue this as a daily routine. He never suggested other exercises, except a thorough warm-up preceding the actual running.

The thing about the mountain was that when she reached a certain height, Mio endured wave upon wave of panic, feeling the change in altitude and the thinning air. The road beneath her feet turned brittle the closer she was to the top where one misstep could cause a fall and the drop over the ledge was further than her eyes could see, packed with jagged stones. Reaching its peak required scaling the wall, which turned into a complete nightmare since the weights on her wrists and ankles started increasing in random multiple of twos.

Despite the constant death scares, Mio was thankful for something to keep her mind off her unexpected run-in with Izuna…and every other detail in her life she wished didn't exist.

"Did you catch that?" asked Shin, peering down at her curiously.

"Up the mountain and back down, around the village once, stay inside the border, and you'll be stalking me."

"Watching," he corrected.

"I'm going now."

Mio walked the first few steps, slipped into a jog, and once she adjusted to the new weights, into a full sprint. She avoided stray stones and holes on the ground. She stuck close to the wall where she couldn't see the edge or gauge at the ever-growing elevation.

Exhaustion crept on her two miles from reaching the peak. She slowed her pace to conserve energy since she had more ground to cover that morning.

"Don't slow down!" called Shin, peering at her from the road above her.

Mio returned to her original speed with an exasperated breath.

"That's better!"

"If I slow my pace—"

"Don't make excuses!"

She assumed he lied about watching her to the extreme he just proved to her, but she should have known better. She decided to push her body until every muscle screamed in pain and her constant aches began to numb.

Once she reached the end of the mountain road, unable to breathe without her lungs throbbing, she stared up the tall wall her grandfather expected her to scale in her condition. She had done it before, several weeks in a row and each time she did it, she dreaded it. She made it every time, despite the doubt, but that never stopped it from rearing its ugly head.

Mio sucked in a breath and dispelled of it slowly. She stepped closer to the wall, straining to reach the first of many protruding stones that marred the mountain's face. Her fingers dug in, tiny flecks of dust fell across her face. She shook the dirt off and kicked her foot into the wall, hoisting her body up far enough to reach another stone. The weight pushed her down making each step upward harder than the last until a misstep sent her to the ground.

She hit hard, waking every pain receptor in her body and flooding them with senses. She stayed on the ground unable to move, trying to return the breath back into her lungs.

"Up, Mio."

Her eyes fluttered open to see her grandfather standing behind her, his body casting a shadow over her.

"Come now. It was just a fall."

Just a fall? She wanted to shout it at him, but couldn't.

"I can help you, but what's the point? You are not the sort to give up so easily. Are you tired already?" he asked, almost tauntingly. "It has only been a few weeks and you have done well enough."

Mio fisted her hand and clenched her teeth, forcing her body up. She did not have the time to lay there; she still needed to cover the village. Every limb throbbed in pain, her wrists feeling as though they were about to fall off.

Shin stepped away, the sun fell right across her face. "Good."

She took three deep breaths once seated and proceeded to push her whole body back onto her feet. She turned around. Shin was no longer present. It relieved her, giving her the incentive to try scaling up the remainder of the mountain.

She approached it differently, paying closer attention to where she grabbed and what she stepped on to ensure the fall didn't happen again. The thought made her bones quiver.

.

.

Mio returned to her grandfather's remembering all the times she complained about her mother's training regiments when she was a child and Sachiyo's idea of it as well, especially all the time she spent in the swamps learning a bunch of complicated jutsu that she never really mastered. The training her grandfather put her through was on a different level, with her parents and Sachiyo she only trained three days out of the week and studied reports in what remained. What she was doing with her grandfather was an everyday thing. The only rest she had was the sleep she managed through the night. She normally collapsed as soon as she made it into a chair. Shin had to force her awake to eat, else she might not have the energy to function the following day. She never knew how good she had it until now. All the complaints she made seemed redundant now, and she couldn't even protest this time around because she longed for activity.

Training kept her mind off everything. There was never enough time to think when she needed to make sure she didn't step on unsafe ground and plunge into the ground below.

Shin and Jouji came into immediate view. The sight of him made her rush up the rest of the way though her body was on the verge of collapsing.

"Jouji-san," she breathed.

The conversation between him and Shin seized abruptly.

Mio's legs shook violently. A step forward brought her to her knees. She bit back a curse.

"Mio—"

Shin stepped forward before Jouji and pulled her back onto her feet. The few seconds she spent completely in his arms felt alleviating, not having to bear the weights herself, but it was fleeting and soon as he dropped his hold on her, the burden came rushing back.

"You look terrible, Mio," Jouji commented.

"How did it go?" she asked, dismissing the observation.

"The Mikazuki are challenging clans in the Lightning Country," he replied. "Konoe has gone off the radar and that is never good. You'll have to be extra careful, Mio."

"That woman's a demon," Shin murmured, arms folded over his leather workshop apron. "She'll have me to deal with if she's planning what I think she's planning and she better not be planning it."

Mio blinked wearily at her grandfather. "You mean come here? The samurai increased their defenses since the neighboring countries have become drawn into the battlefields, you don't think she's that stupid."

"I think she has something up her sleeve," Jouji answered.

"Like a death wish," said Shin.

"Shinya-san, please, Konoe is still Mio's aunt."

"Please, it's not unknown that Konoe is a horrible person."

"Old men shouldn't gossip," she told them, stepping past them as they huddled together. The two were fast friends like Okimi and Sako.

"She used to be such a nice, quiet girl," Jouji mentioned, sounding like a reminiscent old man.

"I think she's rebelling. She's going through so many changes."

"Really?"

"She's a young woman now."

Mio's face burned with embarrassment.

"I think she heard you," Jouji whispered.

"Look how red her ears are. She's so cute."

Mio slammed the front door shut behind her and sank into the cushioned armchair. It creaked noisily under the weight of her body. She rolled her eyes, sighing deeply, when the smell of food reached her. Her stomach gurgled hungrily, but she felt too comfortable to move.

She closed her eyes, leaning her head back into the pillow. Sleep gave a light pull and she succumbed.

A warm hand touched her forehead.

She exhaled, eyes fluttering open. Her limbs felt heavier than they had on the run back.

Shin set a tray of food on the floor as he knelt before her. "I'll prepare a warm bath for you while you eat," he told her, untying the weights around her ankles. "Here, your wrists now."

She offered her hands to him and listened to the ties loosening and the thin weights falling into her grandfather's open palm, clinking noisily. He pocketed them and placed the tray on her lap.

"Do you have it?"

Mio hunched forward, hands fumbling to pull the wooden tray further over her thighs. She yawned. "Thank you."

Shin left out the door in the side of the house.

She stared down at the chicken broth and decided to have it first.

Taiga appeared in the room. She forgot about him completely, but obviously, if Jouji had returned, their favorite Uchiha must have accompanied him. His hair was messily pushed off his forehead, longer than she recalled, and he seemed to have forgotten to get rid of his stubble in the time he spent outside the country.

"Hello," she greeted, only because he looked in her direction.

"Why is Gouki interested in you?" he asked suddenly, leaning into a counter at the kitchen. "Hiryuu is only looking for you because it was one of Gouki's requirements to solidify an agreement."

"Why do you expect me to know everything?" She brought the bowl of broth and took a sip, the warm liquid oozed down her sore throat like a piece of heaven. "And how do you know the details of the agreement?"

He shrugged, dismissing her counter. "I wouldn't find it too shocking that you already came across an answer."

Mio recalled the time when Hiryuu cornered her in the kitchen of the old Uchiha compound. The day Izuna overheard her biggest kept secret. His reaction shocked her. Perhaps, it had opened her eyes to how strongly he cared for her and in a moment, she misunderstood them for being what she thought appropriate, not what they truly represented.

"Hiryuu told me Gouki wants to understand me," she answered truthfully, picking up her chopsticks to start on the pickled vegetables in a small dish.

She didn't look away from his expression. It read nothing out of the ordinary, but his grip on the edge of the counter tightened. She pushed the idea out of her head before it annoyed her.

"See, you did know."

"Wanting to understand a person says nothing to me," she answered, chewing slowly.

"Do you even understand what that means?" he asked, sounding irritated.

"I'm not that naïve, I understand it can mean a lot of things, I'm just not quick to jump to conclusions," she remarked, feeling the mood rub off on her. "Hiryuu spelled it out real nice for me anyway."

"Did he touch you?" The irritation made a swift transition to pure anger. "Did Hiryuu put his hands on you?"

She hated his tone. It completely snuffed what little appetite she had acquired. "And if he did what? What business is it of yours?" she demanded in a low, menacing voice. "You're nothing to me, you have no say."

"He doesn't," came Shin's reply. The glee that usually clung to his tone was gone. "I do. And if that man did anything to you, I will treat him to an unimaginable death."

She didn't hear the door open or his footsteps. Judging by Taiga's expression, he failed to sense him as well. This should have stopped shocking her as much as it did, but she found it particularly amazing. She also didn't remember telling him that Hiryuu had a hand in her parents' murder, how it applied to the Mikazuki Gouki conversation or Taiga's peculiar attitude, and without voicing it, he seemed to notice all three.

Mio set the tray on one of the countertops in the kitchen and pushed past her grandfather. "I don't want to talk about this."

She slipped out of the terse atmosphere through the first door in the short hall that led to Shin's bedroom. She marched down the three steps to the gravel and her sandaled feet crunched all the way to the separate bath. Every sore muscle in her body wailed in agony as she entered the steaming wooden room. It doubled as a small bathhouse and a steam room. The baths her grandfather took were scalding because he didn't feel heat as normal as others, explaining that the waters in Kurata were constantly boiling to ensure lasting warm baths in a realm that only carried cold.

She peeled off her sweaty clothes and tossed them in a pile. She washed her body quickly, noting the red marks the weights left on her skin. She imagined there was a large bruise forming across her back because the skin felt incredibly tender. She had scrapes all over from all the falling she did and it took several scrubs to remove the dried blood. Once she rinsed the excess soap from her tangled hair, she headed into the wooden tub to submerge her body and soak for a while.

The temperature was a little warmer than she liked, but the heat made all her sore muscles tingle in delight so she hardly minded it. She closed her eyes, inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly. It felt devastatingly perfect. She fought off sleep to avoid drowning and all the bad memories the mere thought of it brought on.

Mio went straight to bed after getting dressed into something comfortable. She slept like the dead.

---

In a fit of anger, she had left a strange note for Madara to read, one that depicted her universal feelings in the last couple weeks of Taiga and Shin probing her for answers she didn't have about how inappropriately Hiryuu touched her. She had no response because the worst he managed was act in a way that made her stomach knot in disgust, but he did not touch her in the way both males assumed.

I hate it here.

She sent four words expecting nothing in response, a complete disregard about her feelings and when her grandfather placed the response in her hand, she read it twice.

Deal with it.

Well, she certainly held no high expectations for Madara's compassion, but it hurt. He remained the only link she had left of the life she lived before the "betrayal," so she expected more. Some kindness would have been nice, but then again, she forgot who she was dealing with.

Mio held the paper in her hands when it suddenly hit her. He didn't have to reply to her note in the first place, it wasn't an update on the things she learned off Jouji's network of spies. He also failed to mention anything remotely like news on his end and he kept her posted on politics she didn't need or want to understand. He made a special mention of the Motou clan's strange jutsus and also how they were all especially religious, believing their ability to perform jutsu had been a gift from their gods. Nothing of that sort appeared on the paper, not even a slight mention of Izuna's progression in the Waterfall Country, which she heard had been incredible. The battles crossed the borders and many shinobi were combing through the treacherous waterfalls in search of Ito territory for a planned ambush.

She decided to play with the idea. She wrote a short note, though some of her feelings snuck their way in there.

Did you hear about the Wave Country? The rebellion isn't looking good for the daimyo and Chika-sama.

My grandfather doesn't think they'll continue reigning long.

I want to see the house again and talk to Sachiyo. I want to be with Izuna.

I want to go home.

She didn't hand this note to her grandfather; she had one of her clones deliver it to the new place. It hardly mattered that he would notice since he had eyes all over the Iron Country and there was certainly a possibility that he would question her about it. She prepared herself to lie as soon as she headed out the door to take on the new weights, run up the mountain and down, twice around the village today. She dreaded it. Every bit of it.

"Dread it when it's the middle of summer and you're sweating in places you didn't realize could sweat," Shin had said. She couldn't get the image of disgust from her head, thinking of his words brought it back.

She regretted it all over again.

Mio gathered her hair into a high ponytail before stepping out to greet her disgruntled grandfather. She leveled her eyes with him, expressing no emotion that could potentially work in his favor.

"I felt very tempted to destroy that clone of yours," he said without preamble. "I didn't. I want to respect your privacy. I don't want us to go backwards. I offered my help to you and I wish you'd not let your sensibilities get in the way of my doing my part."

"Please give me the weights," she said quietly. If she paid him any mind, the anger would rush back when she'd finally found some solace. "I don't want to come home too late."

Shin helped her strap the new weights on her ankles and wrists. She felt the new strain immediately; he'd doubled the combined weight from yesterday.

"Can you do me a favor?" she asked, readying herself for the run.

"What do you need?"

"I'd like scissors if we have any."

"Should I be worried?"

"No," she answered evenly. "I just want scissors. Can you take some time off having unreasonable conversations with a man seven decades your junior for the time necessary to procure some scissors?"

"Please, Mio, that hurts my feelings. I'm not that much older than Taiga."

"Just get the scissors."

Mio started up the path before Shin could protest it any further.

.

.

When she reached the summit the ground shook, chips off the mountain wall rained down on her. She grabbed onto the wall to prevent herself from tipping over and covered her left ear when a howling wind screeched beyond the skyline followed by a cloud of dust that engulfed the whole mountain. The air was electric with different levels of chakra; each powerful jutsu cast wrought the Iron Country in persistent tremors, each lasting longer than the last.

Another strong wind swept past Mio's form and cleared the dust away from her. Mio opened her eyes to the looming battlefield, out beyond a partly decimated forest where there once stood several interlacing trees now lay a huge vacant plot littered in corpses and shinobi of opposing clans fighting with what remained of their armies. Every passing day, the disputes pushed closer into neutral country and forced the citizens of the first town to travel deeper into their country to find respite within the hidden towns where an army of samurai lay in wait, hoping for the war not to reach.

The worry between the country's leaders grew by morning when the battlefields nestled closer to the mountains protecting their home. Every day Mio wondered how long it'd be before the country was overrun with corpses. She wondered what that meant for her grandfather's agreement with the samurai and whether or not a breach in their borders could do what a hundred other offers didn't accomplish, the Kuronuma's involvement.

Mio took a quivering breath, feeling a sting in her wrist and something warm trickle down it. She reached for the cord tying the weights to her left wrist. She struggled with the knot, every tug she gave it made the sleek weights grate her reddened skin until they gave in, sliding apart.

The rocky floor beneath her feet dented all around the four weighted bars, kicking up a cloud of residue. Mio stared at the slanted cut on her wrist and the blood dripping from it.

Immediately, she tore the bottom of her shirt and tightly wrapped it around her wrist before lifting the weights off the ground to retie them as her grandfather did. As soon as the pressure nestled over the cut, she hissed. It hurt more than the initial sting that alerted her of its presence, but she pushed the ache out of her head. If she didn't think about it, it wouldn't affect her. She needed to run down the mountain and around the village twice, a small cut wouldn't stop her, neither would a little blood. The pressure could as well staunch the bleeding, though she couldn't be sure as her medical knowledge was mediocre at best.

She followed the road back down the mountain and started on the trail around the first town. By the time she reached the front gate, her lungs were burning and her exhaustion was far worse than any other she experience she had, even with all the falls she endured in previous routines. She wanted any excuse to sit down and catch her breath because everything hurt.

Ignore it. She didn't want to fail at today's objective, so she bore through the pain because it wasn't the end of the world. She'd live.

With that particular resolution, Mio worked her muscles until she couldn't be sure how she managed to reach her grandfather's home, though when she did, she collapsed in front of his workplace.

She came in and out of consciousness, the crunch of boots reached her ears and she only wondered why it'd taken Shin so long to appear.

"Mio!"

Except that wasn't her grandfather's voice.

Mio complained as Taiga helped her on her feet. "Where's Shin?"

"I don't know," he said quickly. "Can you walk?"

"I can walk," she stated, putting some distance between them, though she could use the help, she didn't want to ask him for it. "How long has he been gone?"

"This morning."

She entered the house and found a seat, every limb in her body trembled in exhaustion. She imagined her grandfather's engagement kept him from showing up when she removed the weights at the top of the mountain.

"I saw the battlefield from the top of the mountain," she started. "It's getting closer."

She pushed her palms down over her knees in an attempt to stop the shaking, but it didn't work. She slumped into the cushions at her back, breathing heavily. Enervation filled her body with a chilling cold that clouded her mind. A small voice told her she wasn't okay, but she refused to listen to it, not until she learned why her grandfather was out. Shin never left without a purpose or telling her beforehand.

"It's Gouki's work."

Gouki again. "I already heard about Konoe. Jouji told me on the day you both got back."

"One of his men was taken captive two days ago. We received the corpse this morning."

"One less man," she said snappishly. "Does that make much of a difference to your seven people army?"

"Spies are invaluable," he remarked, displeased by her comment but it wasn't enough to provoke his anger. "This wasn't the first time our spies were targeted and it won't be the last."

"Jouji should stay in the country," she said, forcing her body forward to stand. "I'm going to find Shin."

The front door slammed open, startling her. "No need."

Shin entered the house covered in soot and grime. Black droplets fell away from his body with every step he took, sizzling on the floor, each burning a tiny hole through the wood.

Mio struggled to get on her feet, but he held his hand up. "I suggest you don't come near me, I'll have to clean up first."

Taiga stepped forward, a curious smile on his lips. "Is this the rumored black water? It's rotting the wood."

Mio frowned. "Where were you?"

"One of my clones was destroyed. I went to meet the man that managed to accomplish that and met with a certain Mikazuki Gouki."

Mio's attention was rapt. They'd been fooled into believing he was in the Lightning Country ruining other people's lives, but he'd been stirring trouble near here, which unnerved her less that it should have.

"He's asked for the both of you," he continued. "Forgive me; I didn't have the patience to ask what he's wanted."

"There's not a scratch on you," Taiga observed.

"No, there isn't." Shin stepped towards the short hallway. "Excuse me." He paused at the doorway. "Oh, and Taiga, make yourself useful and cook something for Mio, then prepare her a bath. I'm afraid I won't have time for either."

Shin slipped out through the back door.

Taiga and Mio exchanged looks.

"Is it me or he seems furious?" asked Taiga, jabbing a thumb in Shin's direction.

"It would seem."

Taiga moved to the countertops in the kitchen. "Do you want anything in particular?"

Mio stared at him awkwardly, unsure whether she heard him right. "Whatever's easiest."

.

.

Shin hammered away for a great portion of the night making it impossible to sleep. She stepped out into the bitter cold and dragged her robe over her shoulder to tighten it in place. She stood off to the side watching him shape the burning metal with every harsh hit. Observing his movements, the consternation furrowing his eyes, the unspoken emotion deepening his frown, and the attention he paid to the weapon he forged above his anvil before returning it to the furnace until it burned bright red.

"What has he told you?" she asked gently.

Shun dropped the unfinished sword into the fire and jerked around to face her, wiping his hands on a cloth hung from his pocket.

"Tomorrow will be a difficult day. You should be resting." He stepped out to take the seat outside his workspace. "I never expected you'd be so undertrained."

She glowered. "I will rest when you stop pounding on that thing, so tell me what's upset you," she ordered. "What's Mikazuki Gouki told you?"

At once, his temperament darkened and without speaking the words, she understood the reason for his sudden mood change. The cruel bastard must have told him in explicit detail how he had killed his daughter or perhaps, offered him details of what he'd plan to do to her once he captured her.

Mio didn't want to think of that torture, nor did she want her grandfather to feel the way he did, both of which were impossible. The idea was already ingrained in her head, she unconsciously put it there to worry her every morning she woke to start her routine and wait for the moment in which Gouki would cross the borders without anyone's notice to take her away from the peaceful mountain setting.

"If you wanted…" she started lowly, a tenor of uncertainty hid beneath a thick layer of monotone. She wanted to swallow her tongue and never speak again because this man understood the loss she endured that night. "If you could, I mean, why didn't you kill him? He killed mom—he killed dad—"

She choked back a sob, shoved the unnecessary emotion back from where it emerged, but Shin saw it. He sat on the edge of his seat, ready to jump out of it if need be, and his eyes were nearly bulging from their sockets.

He rose from his seat, patting it. "I think you need the chair more than I do."

Mio swallowed hard. "Please answer the question."

"I neither could nor couldn't," Shin replied. "I could because I am decades stronger than him and he is a sloppy shinobi. While unpredictability has worked for him time and again in the past, it would end with me. I couldn't because I am bound to my clan's principals and remaining neutral is my only duty."

Her throat constricted. He didn't understand.

"I couldn't because I won't accomplish anything with killing him. It won't bring Kikyo back. It won't bring your father back. It won't return all the lives he's taken. So tell me, why should I have to bear the burden of his death? I do not see justice in ending his life. I do not believe revenge will make me feel better, no, and I'd rather it not become another weight on my shoulders."

Mio and Taiga had the same conversation out in the forest when he asked her to exact her revenge on Hiryuu for being the cause of the split in power and she told him it was unimportant. It angered him that she had no interest in revenge, but in that sense, she shared her grandfather's sentiments. Revenge wouldn't bring back her dead. But Taiga judged her harshly for it and it never sat well with her. She thought about it too much, wondering if there was something wrong with her.

"Then…is it wrong to not want him dead…?" she asked in a quivering voice.

"No," he said shaking his head. "Never wrong."

He extended his arms to her and she stepped into them, allowing him to embrace her. She wrapped her arms around him and breathed in the heat, soot, and oil off his leather apron. She usually hated the combined smell, it made her nose itchy, but she saw past it all, appreciating how he held her the way she remembered her parents did.

He considered revenge a burden. She'd never seen it that way. She only thought it unnecessary because it wouldn't fix anything. The person would be dead and if one gained any satisfaction…it would be fleeting. It changed nothing. It only caused more strife; she'd seen it a thousand times. That's why most battles started in the first place. Someone died and someone else tried their hand at revenge, the cycle was endless.

She didn't want to start a war with the Mikazuki clan because they could easily tell the rest of the world the Uchiha clan weren't all working together. That's the reason she advised Taiga against killing Hiryuu as well.

"I did warn him," he admitted once they'd pulled away. He took the cloth from his pocket and used it to clean the dirt off her face. "He's set on taking you as payment and he's told me. I asked him to relish the thoughts he's depicted because you are alive. You are not someone lost to me, you're under my care and I vow to protect you for as long as you need my protection. So, Mio, get some rest. Tomorrow will be difficult with only a few hours of sleep. Go on. I'll just clean this mess up and wash up, so no more hammering to keep you up."

Mio nodded. "Goodnight."

---

Summer was the harshest season.

---

The Senju clan's involvement made it difficult for Madara to abandon his post, but Ito Tomoji had suffered a terrible injury and his grandmother insisted he be present even though that meant having a Sun Country's priestess accompany him. The heat detracted from an enjoyable travel and the weather had only gotten worse after slipping past the giant waterfall and into Ito clan territory with Motou Yayoi and Ito Kaname in tow. The trek had taken its toll on the priestess who was unaccustomed to traveling anywhere outside her secluded woodland village and she'd be a better companion if she had some sense in keeping at least half of her complaints to herself, but even thinking that seemed like asking too much.

"Kaname will escort you somewhere else," Madara announced, watching Yayoi's face mold in distaste. "Wait until the envoy comes to have you relocated." He moved towards the main building after a number of Ito shinobi redirected him to his grandmother's present location, but returned to his place to give her one last warning look. "Don't do anything stupid. It's not anyone else's job to keep you alive, you put one foot out of line and you'll be killed."

Kaname took the black haired girl by the arm. "Come, Yayoi-sama."

Yayoi jerked her arm away, frown deepening. "Unhand me."

"Just shut up and go."

Madara stepped into the building as Kaname tried coaxing the priestess into accompanying him. He met many Ito shinobi walking down the hallway, most of them were wounded and others looked like they hadn't slept in days. He started on the staircase though one man warning him about disturbing an important meeting and the closer he got to the top he recognized Tomoji's weak baritone and his grandmother readily expressed her opinion.

He almost saw the round table in the center surrounded by battle worn shinobi in their broken armors when a hand grabbed his foot, dragging him down three steps. Madara jerk around, kunai in his hand, but instead of finding a stranger he found Izuna with his finger pressed to his lips.

"What're—?"

Izuna slapped a hand over his brother's mouth. "Shut up, stupid, or they'll catch us," he hissed. "And put that kunai away."

Madara blinked at him confused. He expected a different sort of greeting from Izuna, something along the lines of silence after months of a one-sided correspondence. Not that he was complaining. This worked.

He returned his weapon to the holster on his thigh and tugged Izuna's hand from his mouth. "Are you eavesdropping?" he asked dumbly. Obviously he was. "Why are you eavesdropping? Don't they include you in the—"

"Shhh!"

Izuna shot him a look and Madara grumbled, waiting out the rest of his questions to listen with his brother. Voices soon reached his ears, harsh, commanding whispers about the Ito's next plan of action.

"The Sanuki clan's been completely obliterated by the Mikazuki shinobi," a gruff toned man commented. "Also, another group of Mikazuki shinobi has been spotted near the Iron Country border with Uchiha Konoe."

Madara tapped his brother's shoulder, forcing him to turn around. "This about Mio again?" he snapped lowly. "Are you seriously worrying about her?"

"Shut up," Izuna retorted.

"Izuna—"

"Shut up, Madara."

"It won't be long before the Iron Country falls to the shinobi clans threatening it," Sachiyo explained, muffling a cough. "As the only country protected by the Demon clan, it's a possibility that if it is crushed, their shinobi will challenge the samurai's enemies. I don't think we can afford the involvement of a clan like the Kuronuma."

"A clan of fables?" one man snorted. "The worst that could happen is their own eradication and thus the world loses another of its original inhabitants."

"They won't involve themselves," Tomoji argued. "Kuronuma Shinya won't involve his brethren."

"Not unless Mio is endangered," Sachiyo replied coolly. "The only reason Konoe would be around the Iron Country is to take the girl."

"You can't mean to say this Konoe can face off against Shinya?" Tomoji sounded insulted. "That she would even dare for the sake of one girl? It's preposterous."

"Face off, no, but she can outsmart him, she has two dozen Mikazuki shinobi at her disposal and we know exactly what they are capable of doing. The Sanuki are only the third shinobi clan that's fallen to them and that's been in the last year. And what does Kuronuma Shinya have? A non-violence agreement and a fifteen-year-old spy that isn't even allowed to defend herself? That is pathetic. If the warring clans break through the samurai's defenses, he and his granddaughter will be sitting ducks and they will inevitably die."

Izuna noticed the confusion in Madara's face. "Mio's been completely adopted by the Kuronuma clan so she's not allowed to take part in any shinobi business."

Madara tried to stop the shock from reaching his face before Izuna noticed, but his little brother didn't miss a beat.

"Why're you making that face?"

Mio never told him she'd been adopted by the Kuronuma or that being a part of their clan now meant she had no say in shinobi affairs. Did that mean their secret agreement was suddenly forbidden? Is that why she never thought of telling him?

"What face?" he argued.

"You look surprised," Izuna pointed out.

"Nobody ever told me Mio's with a Kuronuma," he lied.

"No, nobody's told you Mio's neutral."

Madara glared at his brother.

Izuna grabbed a hold of his shirt. "What do you know?"

"I don't know anything!" he retorted, trying hard to keep his voice down. He pried his brother's hand off him and started down the staircase, still feeling a suspicious gaze on his back. "Stop staring at me like that already. Come down."

Above them, the congregation of leaders met with some dissent as the conversation shifted to the ongoing battlefield near them and Izuna begrudgingly followed him down the last steps seeing as they were done with the subject of his interest.

Once they were far from the stairs, Izuna turned to him. "Did you just get back?"

Madara nodded.

"Did anyone see you?"

He shrugged. "The usual people."

"Did you come alone?"

He didn't like how many questions Izuna was asking. "Just Yayoi and Kaname, but he's already taken her to get settled."

"Okay, we should go now before you unpack," Izuna decided, taking him by the arm and leading him down the remainder of the hallway. "You look like you have enough supply to last us the trip and if we get started now, we can make it before tomorrow night."

Madara tugged away. "What're you talking about?"

"Mio, you idiot, weren't you listening? She's going to be in trouble when Konoe gets her Mikazuki into the Iron Country. She and her grandfather can't fight back because of their Kuronuma rules and I don't want to stand around doing nothing. You shouldn't either. You were such a jerk the last time you saw her that you practically owe her."

"Is this the same Mio that Senju mentioned?" a girl asked behind them.

Madara growled at the sight of Yayoi pursuing them as though she'd be part of the conversation since it was initiated.

Izuna looked to him accusingly. "What Senju?"

"Hashirama."

"Why does he know about Mio? Did you tell him about Mio?" demanded Izuna. "Why would you tell him about Mio?"

"It's not like nobody knows about her," Madara answered, ignoring his tone.

"Who is Mio?" chirped Yayoi.

Izuna finally noticed Yayoi and stared at her awkwardly. "Who are you anyway?"

"Motou Yayoi."

"Didn't you say she was with Kaname?" he asked, pointing an accusing finger at her.

"Kaname's a sourpuss. I wanted to tag along." She beamed at his brother.

"Can you do anything?" Izuna interrogated, giving her a petulant look.

"She's a medical-nin," Madara answered.

"She can also speak for herself," Yayoi retorted.

"Okay, you can come along. We don't know anything to do with medical jutsu." He looked to him for some form of approval. "She could come in handy if something happens to any of us."

"Granted, she doesn't either, but she tries."

Yayoi grimaced, arms crossed over her chest. "I knew enough when that Senju defeated you."

Madara rolled his eyes. She had to bring that up. He wasn't even that hurt.

"So, who's Mio? Is that your girlfriend?" she snooped.

"Don't encourage him, stupid."

Izuna didn't deny the girlfriend comment, in fact merely smiled through it. "Mio was our spy."

"Yeah, was."

"Then what happened?"

"She traded us in for a psychopath."

"But she did it for Sako and Minako," Izuna argued. "She's not with Taiga anymore, she's with her grandfather. She's a Kuronuma now and she's signed some neutrality agreement that prevents her from taking part in the shinobi world." He regarded Yayoi before continuing. "There's some bad people out there trying to get their hands on her and if they attack her, she can't do anything to fight back."

"She should just fight back," she said, seeing no wrong in doing so.

"I don't think it's that easy."

"Well if she was a spy, she must have had some training, so she's not useless."

"Nobody said she was useless," Madara defended.

"Why are you suddenly defensive? She just said she wasn't useless," Izuna stated.

"I'm not defensive."

"You practically bit my head off," Yayoi stressed.

"The fact that you're being so defensive means you actually feel guilty about being such a jerk to her, isn't it?"

Izuna elbowed him with a knowing smile that earned him no more than a glare, a grunt, and a larger walking distance between them.

"I think he's not telling us something," Yayoi commented.

"I think he actually has feelings."

Madara sensed his anger reaching new heights as he turned to them. "The faster we get out of the camp without anyone noticing, the better, so start moving. And I don't want to hear any of your complaints, Yayoi."

Yayoi shot him a childish frown. "I can handle myself."

Izuna looked too happy to see the results of his unreasonable request.

---

Yayoi couldn't handle herself. She dragged the trip down an extra day that by the time they reached the outskirts of the Iron Country and managed to find a safe distance from the battlefield, it had already been nightfall and the exhaustion was evident in their appearances. The trio found shelter in one of the outer caves of the mountains outside the borders.

Madara and Izuna stood at the edge of a cavernous mountainside opening that fell away into a downward slope and into a sea of trees rigged with traps and explosive notes where the various enemies were hidden by the heavy shade. Beyond the trees loomed the tall gate of a ghost town and patrolling it was a group of samurai.

"How long do you suppose it's been empty?" Izuna asked curiously. "This town."

"Seems like a—"

The rest of the words fell straight from his mouth because in the distance, as the samurai cleared a path, he saw Mio. He elbowed Izuna and pointed at her, rushing down the dirt-packed road nearly stumbling with every step.

She seemed to be in speaking terms with the guards because they greeted her as she passed. She awkwardly evaded the gesture, though offered something of a half nod in regard.

Just looking at her made Madara uncomfortable—

"Is that her?" Yayoi queried, peering over his shoulder. "Eek, she's running with weights in this heat?"

"What weights?" he asked instantly, trying to keep Mio in his line of vision before she disappeared behind the mountainside that obstructed the rest of the route.

"Wrists and ankles," she pointed out, forefinger following her up the rest of the path. "You can see the outline through the others, but the gauze over her left wrist is coming undone."

Madara and Izuna marveled in silence after Mio disappeared behind the obstructing rock waiting for her to reappear one last time before she entered the shade of a dozen perfectly lined oak trees. The moment she appeared, she fell flat on her face and both brothers tensed.

"I don't remember Mio being that clumsy a runner," commented Izuna.

Below, Mio dragged her body onto a seat and brought a hand to her face. She kept it there, which could only mean the fall made her bleed.

"How much do you think a single black bar weighs?" asked Yayoi.

"A pound or two?" Madara offered. "She's never been that strong…or active for that matter."

"Maybe we should help her or something." Izuna looked to him for approval. "She's not standing up."

"We can't cross the border without setting off all the samurai guarding—"

"Who is that?" Yayoi interjected just as a tall, white-haired man appeared beside Mio.

She practically jumped to her feet at the sight of him and stalked toward the rest of the path before reaching the trees. Her right hand was completely bloody from whatever wound she inflicted on her face. When the man turned to say something, she flipped him the bird.

That must be her grandfather. Madara didn't recognize Mio at that point. She usually expressed her anger through unnecessary peace offerings filled with whatever the recipient hated the most and one snide comment here and there, but never so overtly expressive that she would make furious gestures at anyone.

Once she disappeared under the shade of the oaks, they caught one final glimpse in the sudden break of foliage and then, turned to face each other in sudden scrutiny.

"He seemed like a nice person when I met him," Izuna shrugged. "Well, nice enough."

"Who? Her grandfather?" he asked.

"How tall do you think that guy was?" Yayoi squealed. "How old do you think he was?"

"He's old enough to be your grandfather," Madara stated.

"Well, he doesn't look it. Do you think if she knows we're all friends, Mio-san will introduce me?"

"Don't be disgusting."

"It's true, though." At Madara's disgruntled stare, Izuna elaborated with a frown. "He really doesn't look that old. Grandma said he's older than she is."

"Maybe the Kuronuma have access to some fountain of youth or something."

Yayoi barked out a laugh. "No way!"

Madara turned to the sea of trees below them and listened to the start of war in the horizon. He watched the trees sway precariously low until a dozen opposing shinobi lurched from the treetops, disappearing in various directions.

"Looks like the battle's begun again," he observed. "But they're not that much closer to the border than the information we received."

"Maybe the end of the fight will determine that."

---

The following day, Izuna spotted Mio taking the same route wearing fresh scrapes on her face stretching from over her lips to under her chin and another on her forehead. There were several cuts visible up her arms and legs in the tank top and shorts combination she wore that afternoon. Despite wearing the same weights strapped to her wrists and ankles, she ran at the same accelerated pace that cost her yesterday's terrible fall and soon after reaching the row of samurai guards by the small village's entrance, Mio met with another awful fall.

Many samurai rushed to help her, but she dismissed them with a wave of her hand. She struggled back onto her feet having hit her face hard enough to make her nose bleed. She tore off a long piece of gauze from her right wrist as she fell into the same running pace and held it to her nose to staunch the bleeding, though it was quick to soak through it. Droplets of blood spilled down her front.

Madara had never seen her working so hard at anything before. She tried hard enough to satisfy Sachiyo's expectations, but never crossed into anything this extreme. She'd wounded herself before badly during training and she rested before continuing. Today, she didn't give herself a moment to breathe, just forced her body up and back on track. And though she tried hard to disguise the miserable pain she was enduring, he could see it clearly.

He never thought Mio capable of wanting something so badly she'd overwork herself.

Beyond the sea of trees down the slope, the war grew nearer and the samurai prepared for assault.

---

On the third day, Mikazuki shinobi accompanied by Uchiha shinobi met with the samurai's first onslaught of attacks. That same afternoon, Mio ran closer to the gate of the first town with a bloodied bandage wrapped around her right bicep. She had a new black eye and a split lip. He could see why she hated it there. She'd never looked worse and Yayoi couldn't help pointing it out. Madara couldn't help the word vomit.

"She's training, Yayoi, it's something you should try if you want to survive long enough to see next year," Madara snapped.

"And she's not ugly," Izuna added.

Yayoi looked strangely inadequate. "Fine," she said forcibly. "Sorry."

She didn't mean it.

He didn't care.

In the silence, Madara started to wonder how to convince Izuna to stop trying to bring her to their side. Nothing he could have said since they last had spoken did much justice because he met Mio several weeks ago where she admitted to being neutral and never coming back to their side, yet it didn't deter his intentions. He wished he could tell Izuna the reason he'd forced Mio to secrecy, but that wouldn't be protecting his brother, it'd be involving him. The last thing he wanted was for Izuna to know the real reason for Mio's betrayal.

---

Madara spotted Konoe on the fourth day, flanked by two Mikazuki shinobi, shooting straight into the road Mio usually took on her routine. He wanted to think Mio was smart enough to avoid the route, but didn't want to risk it and ordered for them to move out.

The forest below was no longer teeming with shinobi or their traps since the battlefield infiltrated the Iron Country. It was easier for them to traipse, though the ground beneath them rumbled with the shockwaves of nearby attacks. Above them, the outer mountain suffered the worst damage. Whole chunks of rock slammed into the forest floor, random rockslides blocked pathways into the Iron Country for several enemy shinobi that had been pulled under by the nature's savage consequences.

He and his companions kept to the trees, climbing as far up as possible to avoid the worst of the rockslides and the dangerous falls below, but where they could easily see beyond the foliage to the Mio's afternoon route. There wasn't any movement since they first settle into individual branches.

Afternoon brought on a disparaging heat that threatened to melt the skin off his bones. Madara rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a thin sheen of sweat beginning to form. He grimaced.

Izuna looked impatient, barely speaking, his focus steady. Outside his periphery, the ground drowned in the blood of both shinobi and samurai alike.

Yayoi fanned her face with one hand, biting back an onslaught of complaints nobody wanted to listen to which seemed to be the only reason she bottled them up.

He spotted Konoe a second time before the orange glow of sunset faded into nightfall, and lifting his eyes further above where, true to her everyday routine, Mio appeared covered in more gauze than yesterday. The two would inevitably clash once they reached the road running before the town entrance. Mio came alone, whereas Konoe pushed forward with a fairly large group at her back cutting down whoever dared cross their path.

Madara devised a form of cutting through the rest of the forest path into the Iron Country to attempt to intercept Konoe. He made eye contact with Izuna, who looked ready to pounce, and gestured to the scene below. His younger brother nodded in silent affirmation. He then turned to Yayoi; the petulant girl shook her head immediately. He expected no less from the ill-prepared girl.

He jumped across to meet with her as Izuna dropped down from his tree. "We'll be back. Stay in the trees."

He leapt off to join his brother and together, they sprang forward, up the slope at the foot of the mountain separating them from the border. The terrain was harsher further up—stones stuck out of odd places, there were slanted trees that looked as though they might break under the slightest weight, and many bulging roots arced over the grassy hill. From the top of the gradient, Madara figured they were only a short mile separating them from Mio and Konoe's troops.

"We should have gone closer earlier," Izuna shouted worriedly. "We won't make it in time to intercept an attack."

"I think Mio's capable of taking care of herself in the time it takes for us to get there," Madara returned, hoping that would be the case. It didn't look like she carried a weapon with her and with all the falling she did, she'd best avoid doing so to circumvent any grave self-inflicted injuries. The weights would be a burden if she were not used to them, observing her the last three days only confirmed that she was still adjusting.

The Mikazuki shinobi had cornered her into a nook carved into the mountain with swords at the ready and grins on their faces. Konoe observed from the slanted road, staring down at her exhausted form.

Madara questioned how she remained standing, but Izuna did no thinking, he went for a preemptive strike and caught one Mikazuki off guard before the others realized their presence.

Konoe attempted to push through the rest of the group to meet him, but something thin and black caught her upside the head, hurling her into the ground.

Madara looked up skeptically at Mio who shot him an exasperated look. He'd forgotten. She never liked being saved. Everything about her expression said it, but Izuna captured her attention immediately and she drew another black bar from her wrist to use on another unsuspecting enemy. His eyes didn't leave her, not after he saw a fresh cut on her side bleeding too profusely be a small rupture in the skin. He rushed forward to help his brother with one of the Mikazuki, but movement on the ground caught his notice.

Konoe jumped back onto her feet, disoriented from the blow to the head. She reached down to pick the black bar up and came up empty handed. It sat embedded to the dirt ground, sinking further in. That weighed more than a quarter of the pound he assumed.

Something black caught in his periphery. He ducked and glared at Mio, who missed her target by too big a distance to seem reasonable.

"Mio!" he snapped.

"I'm human!" she retorted, lifting her forearm up in time to avoid a swift kick aimed at her head. "I can miss! Ow—!"

The Mikazuki shattered through the bond holding the bars in one wrist off, but not without cracking the bone. He cursed loud enough to cause an echo, dropping on one knee without the hope of getting up.

"Isn't this against the neutral rules?" shouted Izuna, skillfully pushing his opponent towards the drop off the side of the road with quick swordsmanship.

"Isn't this against your grandmother's wishes?" she returned snappishly.

Madara rolled his eyes as he caught his enemy's arm and stuck a short knife between the pieces of his armor. Before Konoe could attest the situation, he threw the wounded man in her direction and watched as the two teetered backward, tumbling down the slope where they disappeared beyond the trees.

"Izuna!"

He twisted around in time to see Mio kick her opponent unconscious and barrel towards Izuna, grabbing him in time to stop the Mikazuki shinobi from dragging him down with him. As Izuna's backside hit the dirt road, the shinobi's arm shot towards Mio, taking her harshly by the wrist and giving her a hard tug, and Madara sped to her. He thought about the black bars still tied around her wrists and ankles—their weight would drag her down faster and the end result could be disastrous.

Madara reached her in time to fist his hand over the back of her shirt and gave one pull as she protested. When the words reached his ears, he felt his stomach lurch when his body met with the high elevation. The scenery blurred around his body, hers, and their enemy's until he hit the ground with a disturbing crunch. He lost track of everything in his surroundings.

"Madara! Mio!"

Izuna's voice sounded too distanced, disappearing the further his body barreled down the slope.

He banged his head on hard ground, bruised his arms and legs, most likely his back. Something might have dislocated because for a second there was an explosion of pain in him before the aches of any new damage took over. The tumble down the hill came to an abrupt and dizzying end when he crashed into level ground below, feeling as though the wind had been knocked from his lungs.

He couldn't move a muscle, not even wiggle a finger. Every limb in his body radiated pain and he wasn't sure he could even shout loud enough for Yayoi. He heard Izuna's voice somewhere in the distance calling the medical-nin's name, which relieved him, even though it'd help his brother had seen where they'd landed.

Madara stared into the moonlight peeking through the clustered tree branches over his head.

Someone to his far right coughed haggardly, spitting repeatedly into the grass that didn't help in cushioning his fall.

"M-Mio?"

He heard the crunch of grass before Mio appeared standing. She offered her hand and he took it. She gave him a tug, trying with all her might to get him up, but his whole arm hurt. She managed to seat him after an ardent struggle, even after he gave her his other arm, but she dropped to the ground next to him.

Her hair had come undone; there were sticks and leaves sticking out of the tangled mass that hung down her shoulders. Her face was completely bloodied, left arm looked dislocated, and she seemed to have broken a finger. She still bled from her side until the blood soaked into her ripped shirt and dribbled onto the grass between them. Most of the black bars still tied to her had cut into her skin.

She seemed indifferent to the new wounds.

It took him a moment to catch his breath as he observed his surroundings. He found the Mikazuki shinobi lying under a patch of moonlight with a tree branch sticking out of his neck. It probably stabbed into him early onto the fall because the Mikazuki shinobi looked cold and dead.

"Why the hell are those so heavy?" he demanded, pointing at her ankle weights.

Mio shrugged. "Ask my grandfather, he's the sadist."

"What?"

She pushed the hair out of her face, bringing to light a rough scrape on her forehead. "Don't worry about the weights," she told him. "I think your collarbone is broken."

Madara tried to look but he only saw a slight swelling and a lot of bruising.

"Let me see."

Mio leaned forward as he did, reaching to brush the fabric from his shoulder. The slightest brush of her fingertips ached. He stifled a complaint. He focused on the concentrated look on her and found fading bruises and cuts on her face.

"Can you fix it?" he grumbled uncomfortably, the pain started to resurface in shallow waves.

"No. I'll get squeamish. It looks gross."

"You don't look any better."

"Who would after that drop?" she argued.

Izuna and Yayoi's voices drew nearer.

Madara dug into his pocket in search of a, now, crumpled envelope and thrust it in her direction. He'd planned to send it to her once he settled in with the Ito again, but it helped he found a moment to give it to her now when he thought it could've been impossible with Izuna around.

"You need to explain to Izuna," he told her. "Give him a reason to stop chasing after you. This has to stop today."

"What has to stop?" she queried, eyebrows furrowed.

"Izuna likes you," he confessed, watching her countenance sour in confusion. He clarified, "I think he wants to marry you."

"It's not a bad thing," she replied earnestly. "I'll marry him if he wants."

Madara pinched her leg in frustration. She squeaked in shock. "No, you won't."

"Just because I'm neutral doesn't mean I'm not allowed to like or marry whoever I want, shinobi or not," she argued, slapping his leg in retaliation. "Don't pinch me, I bruise easily!"

He hissed. It hurt as if she knew there was a bruise there. "Don't hit me back!"

"Then don't pinch me!"

"Explain to Izuna why you'll never come back! Tell him anything that'll stop him from pursuing you!" he said persistently.

"No! I'm tired of this stupid lie! I want everything to go back to normal! I hate not being with Izuna!"

"Shut up, you don't even like him that way!"

"I could if I wanted."

"Madara!" "Mio!"

Yayoi and Izuna's voices overlapped, silencing them both.

Mio stuffed the envelope down her pants.

Madara grabbed her by the arm and felt her wince. He looked her in the eye. "Feed him whatever lie you want. He has other things to worry about that have nothing to do with you and he can't start worrying about them when you're on his mind."

"I want to be with Izuna," she said petulantly.

He tightened his grip. She froze up. "You can't come back until Taiga trusts you enough to tell you where he's hidden it. Got it?"

Mio balled her hands into fists, reluctant.

"I promise to come get you," he whispered, footsteps drawing near quickly. "I'll find you wherever you are. I'll bring you home and you can do whatever you want. You can be with Izuna all you want. And if you like him the same, marry him. I don't care. Just do this now. We have to protect him, Mio."

She opened her mouth as if to argue, but caved into his request. She gave him a hesitant nod.

As soon as Izuna and Yayoi appeared, Madara guiltily dropped his hold on her and ordered Yayoi to mend Mio first.

Izuna crouched down beside him. "I didn't see Konoe or the other Mikazuki anywhere. They must have landed somewhere else."

Yayoi popped Mio's arm back into place and fixed up her finger. Several bruises and cuts remained alongside the gash on her side due to Yayoi's inexperience, but she mended broken bones just fine. In no time, Yayoi had fixed his collarbone and done away with several bad scrapes.

His brother approached Mio in private as she gathered her scattered weights and for many silent minutes, he feared she'd defy him. There wasn't any way of telling. He couldn't hear anything but a quiet hum in the new silence.

The priestess cringed painfully. "That's harsh."

Madara stared at her wide-eyed. "Are you eavesdropping?"

"Your little brother practically admitted he loves her and she just shot him down," she gossiped in a loud enough whisper.

"Shot him down?"

"Said she's in love with this Taiga fella she followed."

Madara shot Mio a disgusted look. She couldn't come up with a better lie. She offered him a meager shrug after his brother came stomping back towards him.

"We should go before someone shows up," Izuna decided. "Mio says she'll be fine on her—"

"I'll escort her," announced a familiar voice.

Taiga dropped from a branch. He gestured for Mio to him and she walked over uncomfortably.

"If I were you, I'd be leaving about now, a group of samurai are scouring the forest for Konoe." Taiga grinned. "You don't want to get caught in any of that."

Madara struggled onto his feet as Izuna left through the foliage from where he emerged and saw Taiga try to put his arm around Mio's shoulders. She shied away from the gesture, uttering something that made him laugh.

She looked over her shoulder and mouthed a small, "thanks." He nodded, but felt horrible that even though no one else was around to notice it, she seemed like she might cry. The dismay in her aura was tangible and equally suffocating.

Taiga must have overheard the lie. There was no other way to explain the situation or that knowing smirk.

Madara caught up to Izuna and Yayoi, though he and the priestess decided to give his younger brother the space he needed to process today's events. He'd had every intention of being a hero, of saving Mio who seemed to be the most important person in his world, to find out she was in fake love with the man she betrayed them for because his older brother didn't like his emotions for the girl that'd never reciprocate them.

He liked to think he was protecting Izuna in a way. No matter how hard Mio fought for the subject of reciprocating his brother's feelings, he didn't believe any of them. She wouldn't allow herself to feel so freely, loyal to the core his grandmother had called her. She'd be loyal and appreciative towards Izuna, but nothing more.

"Why did you agree to come? You wanted nothing to do with this Mio before. She did betray you," Yayoi started once Izuna was out of earshot.

"It's not important," he muttered, pushing through the radiating pain in his body.

"Obviously it was if you agreed," she persisted.

Madara expelled an exasperated breath. "Mio needs to be protected. So drop it."

---

Mio avoided Taiga for the remainder of the day until Shin and Jouji returned from a tiresome trip and called a meeting. Shin initially panicked at her disheveled, bloody state, but Taiga was quick to inform him about the young medic-nin that healed most of her wounds. She'd been angry at that as well. For the past several months she'd wore her afflictions like a badge and the strange girl healed most of them. She didn't even try stopping her because she realized that the girl was still in training and it might hurt her feelings.

Shin seemed relieved enough with the explanation before dropping the bomb: he planned to return to Kurata with her in tow. Taiga and Jouji would remain in the Iron Country to offer their services in the stead of the Kuronuma clan to help chase the battles away from the once peaceful country.

"I've fortified their third village with a special jutsu and that is all I can do as per our agreement," Shin explained once they were alone together in the living room. "I wish I could protect this place, but my position has been compromised. War is too near and I cannot remain any longer. Kurata will be a welcoming change. The conditions will be harsher, but you will finish agility training around Kurata. We will remain there for as long as it takes for the battlefield to shift. Until then, you won't be able to send any correspondences to the Uchiha boy."

Mio wasn't thinking of Madara, but of Izuna instead, when she looked at her lap. She didn't want to say any of the things she did, but she said them anyway as if she hadn't had a choice. She did. For a moment, she saw it. She could have told him the truth, but she fed him a lie in its stead. She watched his face drop, darken, and blank. In that order. She lied about her feelings. She swore she ran off after Taiga because she loved him like any normal girl might have, even though the man only caused her discomfort. The worst of it all, next to Izuna's reaction and the loud sound of her heart breaking, was the fact that Taiga overheard. There was no telling how long he'd been in that tree, but judging by his behavior, it had been long enough.

"Mio?"

She faced her grandfather and nodded. "I'll start packing."

"I have to meet the samurai leaders one last time. Be ready when I get back." Shin smiled, heading for the door. "Also wear your warmest clothes."

She removed herself from the room wondering if she should have done things differently. It wouldn't stop her from being a distraction. Izuna spent more time on the battlefield than anything and somewhere deep down inside; she hated the effect she had on him. She didn't understand when in those years that they grew up together did he have the time to develop those feelings when she never considered them.

Was there something wrong with her?

Mio sank in her bed with the thought flashing in her mind and a widening gap in her chest.

After a moment, she shook the thoughts from her head and distracted herself with packing. The few things she owned were packed into a single bag. She'd grown out of most her clothes in the last eleven months and resorted to altering them herself with a pair scissors and some black thread and a needle. She cut off the sleeves in most of the shirts she owned and the legs off her pants to have shorts for the summer. The heat her grandfather warned her about wasn't as terrible as he made it seem until she continued her routine. The intense session went beyond any of her expectations and she returned to her grandfather's home drenched in sweat and blood. Each time, she found him either outside splashing ice-cold water on himself or fainted off to the side from overheating.

She tried allowing those memories to take her mind off the afternoon's events. If she there was a way to stop them from every coming into her head again, she might be tempted to do it. She didn't understand why she lied for Madara a second time or why she couldn't have said something other than professing her fake love for Taiga.

I should have said Jouji.

Mio stuffed a flat box into her bag, it bulged with all the information Madara exchanged with her since they split ways. She should have burned them as they arrived, cut off the link, because she was smarter than this, but she didn't have the nerve. She wasn't aware she needed any nerve for burning a couple of letters.

A knock at the door took her mind off wandering back to Izuna's expression. She closed her bag and let it drop on the ground. "Come in."

Taiga stepped in. He tried closing the door shut.

"Don't."

He removed his hand from the knob, leaving it ajar. He regarded her. "Going outside?"

"No," she answered firmly. "I just don't want to be stuck in a room alone with you."

"Well, you've never had a problem before," he shot back.

"That was before you started acting territorial with me. I don't remember becoming your property."

"You're my spy," he emphasized, coal black eyes smoldering as he took his time to walk across the room to meet her. "I've been particularly lenient with your behavior because you betrayed your precious Izuna and Sachiyo for me, you've helped Jouji establish a network of information across the continent with it based here, where we have been under the protection of your somewhat infamous grandfather, but you haven't done enough to free yourself from the life chosen for you to lead. You're a spy. You're my spy."

As soon as he stood before her, he dug his fingers into the back of her neck, catching strands of loose hair in his viselike grip, when he forced her to look him in the face. "Understand, Mio?"

It hurt like hell.

Mio stood perfectly still and without a discerning countenance. She didn't bother with defiance any more than she did with acknowledging the pain radiating up the nape of her neck.

"I completely understand," she said evenly. "You'll find me more obedient once you take your hands off."

Taiga laughed, but did not loosen his grip. "Please, Mio, you're no more obedient now than you would be with my hands off you."

Mio fought the urge to even attempt at breaking one or several of his bones. There were only so many ways to put a man like Taiga in his place without turning to violence and she didn't have the patience to talk him out of anything. She didn't care to learn any alternatives because she didn't care to be depended on it whenever he decided to flip his psychotic switch. However, she refused to stay still and conform to his every whim.

"I'll be clear, Mio, whatever you and Madara want from me, you'll need to earn." The knowing voice complimented by a crooked smile, drained the color from her face and her heart clenched like a fist. He heard more than she ever brought into consideration. "Tell me you didn't honestly believe you've had me fooled all this time?"

"I wanted to think naively."

"Stop being naïve." He thrust her backward. She caught herself before she lost her balance. "It'll get you killed."

"And will you be the one to do it? Kill me?" she challenged, despite her earlier reluctance to give into emotion. "I'm a snake. I work for Madara. I've betrayed you and Sachiyo for him."

"Don't give me the option; I'm sorely tempted in accepting."

Wherever this conversation was headed, she wanted no part in it.

"Wipe that stupid look off your face, Mio," he continued. "Your loyalties to Madara are not reason enough for me to kill you. You're useful to me and so long as you remain as such, I may be inclined to tell you what you need to know."

"I don't trust you."

"The feeling is mutual, you conniving little snake," he spat.

Mio stepped away from him, warily. "What do you want from me?"

Taiga grinned. "I want a lot of things, Mio, most of which I cannot hope to get from a naïve brat with a death wish."

Mio breathed for what felt like the first time since the exchange began. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, affronted.

He touched the bottom of her chin. "Exactly what you think. Send Minako my love."

Taiga started for the door.

"What about your wife?" she asked quickly, halting him at the doorway.

He regarded her with a playful smile and a shrug. "Hi?"

"She's your wife."

"Oh, Mio, that is the greatest revelation you've ever given me. Far greater than the lie you fed Izuna earlier today, and that…that was almost believable." She was absolutely humiliated, but it hurt her more to listen to how he mocked Sako because she didn't deserve it, stupid as she was. Embarrassed or not, she strongly felt anger and she couldn't control it. "I've never realized I had a wife."

"If you hate her, leave her. She should be allowed to live the life she wants and I wish you'd leave her."

"What? Do you plan to take her place?" he asked sarcastically.

"I will if you leave her," she blurted, regretting her blunder immediately, "and that she bears no consequence in your doing so."

She couldn't take any of that back after saying it like a demand, and for several still moments, she awaited his reaction as though her life depended on it because she knew she'd regret it.

Taiga threw back his head and fell into a fit of hysterics, slamming the door behind him. His laughter lingered in the hallway, haunting her.

Mio stared at the wall. She just gave him another thing to hold over her head. How stupid can I be?

---

Madara stumbled out of the woods. He took the second shift of guard duty after convincing his brother two hours had passed. He considered talking to him about what happened once he established Yayoi couldn't eavesdrop on the sensitive subject. He imagined he shouldn't address it at all with Izuna's nearly indifferent behavior, not that he expected any different after Mio's lie. It was a terrible lie. Why would she claim she pursued Taiga out of love? Could it be true? A convincing lie always held a modicum of truth, so did she?

He made a disgruntled face. If she did, why hadn't he noticed before? He tried removing the thought from his head; the mere idea of Mio having developed any feelings towards Taiga baffled him. He would've never assumed in any of the exchanges he witnessed between the two. He saw nothing past her wariness of him and his strange interest in her. Mio rarely gave him the time of day and when she did, she ended up being in a disastrously dark mood that had her doing all sorts of things with a hammer. If Madara ever thought he could sour her mild temperament, he'd never successfully ruined her day as Taiga had with a single word. Where in the world would she develop romantic feelings for him? Why not Izuna?

"You're not very good on guard duty," called a nearby voice.

Madara whirled around, fully alert, and met with the white-haired, rose-eyed Kuronuma he remembered seeing with Mio that could only be her grandfather. He never heard him arrive.

"What'd you want?" he asked, moving closer to the trees.

The man waved his hand and discovered a seat atop a log. He exhaled, eyes searching the darkness with a morose curiosity. "I wish people stopped asking me what I want, it's kinda rude," he said, returning his pale gaze to him. "Do I need to introduce myself?"

"No."

"You don't either. Mio's told me loads about you."

That statement was unfathomable. "Has she?"

"To be honest, no."

"Why'd you say it then?"

"Wanted to see your reaction. Then again, you're not the brother that likes her…so it wasn't very amusing." He smiled. "Forgive me, I'm rambling."

"Aren't you supposed to be with Mio?"

"I appreciate your concern, though there is no need, Mio is always in my sights and she will always be safe at least until you decide to relieve me of my position, not that she'll need your protection by then."

Madara frowned. "Does your entire clan always talk like they know everything?"

"It's a very obnoxious trait, only skips too few generations. But truly, boy, if you were aware of it all, possessed the same knowledge I have, would you not adopt the same obnoxious manner of speaking? To know everything, does it not give you a right to speak as you wish?" Suddenly, the man gave an apathetic shrug. "Of course, I could simply be a man that believes he is better than the rest of the world. You shouldn't put it past a clan that sits holed up in their very own wintry prison to be snobby assholes because outside Kurata the world has unnecessarily been tainted by the cruelty of barbaric men. It is ultimately your opinion to make. Insanity is an option as well."

The Kuronuma reached into a sewn pocket on his white robe and drew a folded slip of paper. He held it out for him to take. "I am taking Mio to Kurata. This is the last you'll hear from her in a long time. Take it and remember your promise."

Madara hesitated reaching for it, but took it. She betrayed her word to him by revealing the secret to her grandfather.

"I can see you jumping to conclusions there," the Kuronuma noted. "I have few occupations and stalking my granddaughter is the first. She didn't need to say a thing without me knowing it already."

"You're just a creep, aren't you?" he deadpanned.

The man made no compelling argument to remedy Madara's deteriorating opinion of him, not that it seemed to worry him much since he only grinned in response to his question. Instead, he abandoned his seat and walked around him.

"Take care of your brother," he commented. "Take care of the Motou girl. And try, if you can, not to die before your time. You'll leave my poor girl waiting forever."

Madara turned, but the man no longer stood behind him. He searched the surrounding woods, finding his attention drawn to the slightest of noise. No matter how determined he sought through the darkness, not a trace remained of the Kuronuma male that the whole conversation seemed to be nothing more than a figment of his imagination, but he looked down. There in his hand sat the folded paper given to him.

He quickly opened and read it beneath a bright beam of moonlight. Mio's barely readable writing stared back at him in one single sentence.

Your new companion is a shitty medic.

He laughed. Mio made him laugh. She sent her grandfather all the way to him in order to deliver a useless message that spoke no truer words of Yayoi's limited capabilities. He'd been so serious since he went to the Sun Country that he realized he hadn't laughed in so long.

Madara pocketed the note and returned to camp to sit out the rest of his guard duty. He regretted not saying something about Mio's condition to her grandfather; probably ask him to cut her some slack with the training. She'd been used to something completely different that this new regime put a greater strain in her than she cared to acknowledge.

---

xl: I planned to post this chapter in all its 30k glory, but I reconsidered it and ultimately left the decision to my brother who suggested I split it. I have plans to post the Chapter 19 later today, but that'll be in a few hours while I do a second edit (it's hard to miss things with chapters this big and the only thing I'm worried about in this one is some awkward sentences). Since Redesign dominated the March poll, I owed you a double post, and you'll be getting it...I just want you to stomach this chapter properly.

Admittedly, Year One sets the foundation to a lot of things that'll be happening later, specifically Spring and Summer. Autumn and Winter are packed with...some crazy stuff and the introduction of Musashi, the Kuronuma clan's patriarch, though not in a way you'd expect. You'll see that in a bit.

Thank you Charisasori, Aista, YamiKitsuneKami, Dusk Nisshoku Valentine, crazyuser, Aries01xD, Adictaphobia, and Beira for reviewing the previous chapter. Thank you to everyone that got through this monster. Honestly, there's no way for me to thank you properly for reading this.

(Sometimes I want to shake Shin by the shoulders and shout at him to tell me all his secrets. Also, I introduced this new character, Motou Yayoi, because she's important in a way that you, as readers might expect, but also in a completely different way. You know, I have all these girl characters that become important later that get introduced early because I really want Mio to have some girlfriends because Sako doesn't could-you know she doesn't-and the more I try to give her any female friends, the more I see it backfire...I think she's just one of those that can't relate to girls properly. Sigh.)

See you later, 'cause I still owe you a chapter~