Edited version posted. Enjoy.
Chapter 30 | The Slumbering Beast III
The temple stood a few feet away, the entrance wide open. Madara warned him of consequences that Izuna had no interested in listening to when all he wanted was to apologize to Yayoi in order to gain entrance into the temple.
"Do you have a plan?" asked Madara worriedly.
"Why does one need a plan to apologize to a person?" Izuna returned, giving his brother an odd stare. "I intend to be sincere."
"Is that all?"
Izuna shook his head in disappointment.
The two came to a halt before the gaping entrance of the temple and an older priest stepped out to greet them, shutting the heavy oak doors to an aperture.
"Do you have business here?" asked the priest.
"Yayoi," said Madara curtly.
The priest inclined his head, excusing himself back inside to fetch her. They heard the man shout at one of the apprentices to retrieve the princess, but the apprentice returned saying that Yayoi refused to meet them. The priest returned with a sullen, apologetic look prepared to break the news to them gently.
"Yayoi-hime is feeling ill," he began.
"I am not feeling ill! You inform them that I will not see them! Even if they apologize or surprise me with gifts!" came Yayoi's vehement outburst from within. "And if they try to buy my forgiveness, it better be made of jade stones from Kurata and gold from the Lightning Country!"
Madara grumbled an insult beneath his breath and stalked off, finding no reason to stay at the entrance like a fool waiting for Yayoi to see them. Izuna decided to persist.
"We are not the one's calling, it was her father," Izuna lied.
Again, the priest slipped back into the temple and a moment later, Yayoi reluctantly walked out. She folded her arms over her chest, showing up with puffy eyes. Yayoi was easy to cry.
"What does he want?" She surveyed the courtyard. "And where is Madara? He is always here to escort me."
Izuna gestured her forward and they began to walk. "I apologize for offending you, princess. My older brother can be crass."
She harrumphed. "Why should I accept your apology? I am not even your friend."
"We have not yet had a moment to formally know one another," Izuna said with an easy smile. "I am sure that the longer I spend here and the more we happen to speak that we will become good friends."
That seemed to have piqued her interest as she finally looked his way. "My father is not calling me, is he?" she asked, forcing them to a halt in the middle of the empty courtyard. "You have brought me out here for a reason, have you not? I am not stupid."
"I sensed a great concentration of chakra in the temple this morning," Izuna said, straight to the point. "I want to know what your priests are hiding there."
"Then you must live with your curiosity. Only those with special authority are allowed into the inner temple and I am not one of them," Yayoi replied, as smug as if she had finished telling him she was one of those people. "Nobody mentions what happens there, only that it occurs and the result is a tangible concentration of chakra that keeps the island alive."
"Is it otherwise dead?"
"It is otherwise not as hazardous as it is now." Yayoi leaned forward, holding a hand cupped off the side of her mouth. She lowered her voice to speak again. "I have a feeling that whatever is happening down there, it is using a lot of the chakra stolen from the shinobi on the battlefield to get stronger and that it might have something to do with the defective sludge in the southern forest."
Izuna started to wonder why anyone would think to tell Yayoi anything of importance. He only reaffirmed her suspicions and she had already told him more than he thought to discover.
"Should you be saying any of this?" asked Izuna, doubtful.
"No," said Yayoi. "These are the country's secrets."
"Why speak them? Do you not fear being heralded as a traitor?"
Yayoi shrugged. "You don't lie to me like everyone else does," she said. "Everyone does it so simply. They think I'm stupid and that I only care about beautiful clothes and expensive jewelry—I do, but I have ears and I am not deaf. My head isn't empty either."
"Even Ayuka?"
"I care deeply for the mistress, but she thinks me the stupidest of them all," Yayoi admitted. "She brought me masters to teach me, but she thinks I have learned nothing. I refused to use kinjutsu, so she thinks me weak, and she dotes on Kikumi—she is her successor after all. I wasn't even considered for succession even though I am the best choice. I can see light in the Fate Sphere. Kikumi only sees a blank page. She's the idiot and Ayuka-sama is blind."
"Have you told her this before?" Izuna asked.
"Why?" She arched an eyebrow. "I'm not the one that's blind and I'm not the one that will regret it."
Izuna traveled to the sylvan in the south where the trees were robust and ancient with thick trunks and sturdy branches. The further in he dwelled—the tough earth and fallen leaves crunching underneath his sandaled feet—he noticed the forest was going through a change. Alive and flourishing on the outside, but deep inside, he started to spot decaying trees wrapped in gauzy white cloth with brittle limbs covered in wooden talismans that bore the Motou clan's sunburst, as if warning against moving forward, and the faintest smell of death grew stronger and stronger until it burned in his nostrils. It was gradually becoming unbearable and he tugged off the sash holding his kimono top together and wrapped it around the bottom half of his face, dulling the stench of death that engulfed him.
He reached a barrier after an hour of nonstop walking. A surge of scorching heat met him upon approaching, sweat beaded at his forehead and waves of steam marred his skin with red patches that throbbed. He peered over the barricade after scaling a nearby tree, lowering his eyes to a floor covered in a thick blanket of bubbling black sea that stretched far beyond his eyes could see. He lingered underneath the cover of a dozen interlaced branches and pointed leaves the size of lily pads. Overpowering the smell of death was that of burnt flesh and rotting trees.
Everything beyond the barricade looked to be losing a battle against the poisonous black substance on the ground. It was as if it was sucking the life from them, burning away the roots to sap at its insides until the upper part of the tree became too heavy for the bottom to carry and it snapped in two, crashing down to serve as sustenance for the sea. Many fallen trees floated atop the pitch-black surface, the bark covered in gunk that ate away at it. The steam emitting from atop the logs was visibly white and looked as though he might be able to grasp one of the many long tendrils of pale smoke and pull.
Izuna grew weary, having heard his brother had crossed the toxic half of the sylvan during the last battle against Motou Heita, Jikai's son and the last threat against the Sun Country crown, where many of his men had fallen to their deaths. The sea had been described to be like the black water that had given the Kuronuma clan their infamy.
He dropped down to the ground in time to feel the rumble of the earth. Stones rattled, the leaves and branches shuddered, and dozens of raven birds took flight with a cacophony of warning squawks. Like inside the temple, he felt an astounding concentration of chakra, stronger than ever, as if there were a wild beast on a rampage in the waters holding this piece of land afloat. The chakra came to his senses in different pulses, the first was strong and those that followed progressively weakened.
Izuna returned his attention to the barricade and down to his irritated skin. It was everything Yayoi had described. Once the pulsing faded, Izuna felt the heat radiating from the sludge beyond the barrier increase, making it unbearable for him to stay. Whatever energies had converged inside the temple, they were indeed producing all the hazards on the island. He understood what Yayoi meant to say when she told him it kept the island alive. It had not been dead, it had always been thriving with life—the natural sort of life where flowers bloomed and the trees were healthy—but that it was alive in the sense that it produced boiling water that resembled that which ran throughout Kurata's valleys.
He started to walk back towards the main road to help navigate the forest, but he stopped halfway there. He surveyed the area and found another in the forest with him. A boy with white hair and pale eyes dressed in furs and a pair of gray trousers paired with warm boots. The strangely shaped dagger Izuna remembered hanging from the slanted belt across his hip was in his hands and he was toying with it. The boy had been leaving the island when Izuna had first seen him.
The boy acknowledged him and stopped playing with his dagger, returning it to his belt and reaching instead for a satchel sitting beside him on the branch. He procured a small jar filled with a lime green substance and tossed it at him.
Izuna purposely sidestepped away from it, letting it smash to the ground, but nothing happened when the liquid touched the soil, it didn't melt or explode. It only darkened its color.
"I knew you would do that," the boy said, fishing out another jar from his bag, "so, I had Okimi make another. Those are nasty burns and you need to treat them if you don't want any scars."
He threw it towards Izuna, only this time he bothered to catch it. He peered at the bottle; the substance reminded him of the one the Kuronumas had given Madara after they had burned his arms with their techniques when a Kuronuma called Enya took Mio.
"Your brother was given one by my nephew Eito quite some time ago," the boy said, earning an odd stare from Izuna. "It might help if you were to dab it on now. The Sun Country's version of the Kuronuma water is—ehhh, if I could find the words to describe it they would be in poor taste."
"Nephew?" asked Izuna, uncorking the jar. He stuck his fingers inside and took some of the cool substance, swabbing it over all the reddened patches on his skin. The prickling the steam had caused died down quickly, replaced by a coldness that felt good on his flesh.
"Kuronuma Shin," he said, pointing at himself. He made a gesture at the rest of his appearance. "This is called a disguise. Precarious one, is it not?"
Kuronuma Shin, Mio's grandfather and Ayuka's nemesis. The fact that he was here and went around unnoticed was amazing. Ayuka knew what everyone was up to on the island.
"Does Ayuka know you are here?"
"You should tell her. It might be enough to kill her." Shin was amused. "The Sun Country is protected from Kuronuma Shinya, she boasts it so much."
"Should you not be with Mio?"
"I am always with Mio. You need not worry for her."
"You also have Taiga under your protection."
"I am letting him live, not offering him protection," Shin corrected, as if it were important for him to clarify. "You have, evidently, not met me."
Izuna finished applied the green concoction to all the red marks on his skin. "Am I supposed to believe that you came all the way here to give me medicine?"
Kuronuma Shin dropped down from his branch and dusted himself clean. "Well, I certainly did not come here to help your brother get a scroll from the Northern Temple or to advise you to take it inside the Southern Temple," he said simply. "I wanted to get away from things, but I should be going. Ayuka is not so self-sufficient that she would torture herself, so I must find a way to ruin her life for a spell. I know how long it took for her to capture the beast and how fast she'll lose it."
He started to walk away and in the distance, Izuna though he heard him say, "She is so stupid" while cackling.
Izuna hurried back to the castle, avoiding all questions concerning his appearance when Kaname caught up to him. He sent Kaname away after receiving an update on any new developments in the time he spent out and learned that Enki had called an important meeting for everyone.
He went into his lodgings to find Yayoi skulking through his things. She froze in place, looking up through a fringe of dark hair.
"I was coming to see you," Izuna told her. "But if you want, I can step out for a moment and you can put everything back where you found it."
Yayoi carefully set down one of his shirts and stood straight. "You were coming to see me? In your disheveled condition? I am touched."
"So you don't want me to leave?" he asked to be sure.
"No, stay," she said quickly, making herself comfortable in front of his table. "What do you need?"
Izuna sat down near her, watching her turn her body to face him with a smile. "My brother procured a scroll for your father—"
Yayoi glared. "Are you trying to use me again? Did I not warn you against this?"
"I am asking you for a favor," he replied, "as a friend."
"As a friend?" She perked up, a wide smile curving her lips. "What do you want to know about the uncle's scroll? It's a fūinjutsu. Someone from the Uzumaki clan gave it to the Sone clan, my mother inherited it and she gifted it to uncle on their wedding day."
Her face lit up after mentioning her mother.
"Fūinjutsu?"
Yayoi nodded. "It is."
"Where is it?"
"With one of my father's whores."
"Where is it? Madara and I are going to need it."
"You don't expect me to agree to any of this without asking for something in return," she said, earning a frown. "I like you and Madara. Madara lets me stay in important meetings and you don't get angry and tell me to shut up, but I want proper compensation."
"What do you want?"
"I want to get the scroll for you and I want to be in today's meeting. I also want a maid, a personal one that gets to come with me everywhere," Yayoi listed. "And I want to do whatever you and your brother plan to do with the scroll, too."
Izuna agreed to all of her conditions and promised she would help them by allowing them inside the temple, an idea she was not opposed to do now that he was being honest with her (and that they were friends). She sounded very excited about exploring the restricted portion of the temple, explaining that she had been curious her entire life.
"Are you not the princess of this country?" asked Izuna incredulously. "Could you not have ordered your way in?"
Yayoi shook her head. "Princess is just a word in this country, it doesn't carry any weight. I have a younger brother, but you don't hear anyone talking about him and he is the heir apparent of this country."
Izuna arched an eyebrow. "You have a brother?"
"Ikki," she replied. "He was supposed to be a shinobi, but father has since been disappointed that he did not turn out the least bit like Heita. He tends to keep to himself these days. Nobody bothers him and he bothers no one. Some people just forget about him."
"Oh."
"Father and Ayuka-sama are the only important ones in this island. Everyone else doesn't matter."
"What about your mother?"
"What about my mother?" Yayoi answered softly. She offered him a tentative smile. "She is fortunate to be dead. My father and uncle started a war over her…only that she should have stayed with uncle…maybe she would still be alive."
"What happened to her?" asked Izuna.
Yayoi leveled her gaze with his, hesitatingly meeting his eyes. "Father called everyone into the courtyard. We were going to celebrate something—I didn't know what it was, but I was excited, so excited I made sure I had new clothes made before the day." She paused, still smiling slightly. "I remember bits and pieces about what happened. I remember it looked like we were in the middle of a festival and that my mother wasn't present until father had her dragged out into the courtyard. She was bleeding and bruised. Father said something. People cheered. Father took a knife and cut her throat." The emotion shone in her eyes, in her tears. "I was too young at the time, so the story eventually started to change every year until I started to agree mother died from an illness."
Izuna was unsure of what words to say to her, none she hadn't heard a thousand times before, so he stayed quiet.
"Now, he's boasting about a new bride." Yayoi snorted. "I hope the stupid girl is good in bed and knows to be quiet, else she might end up dead like every other woman that wasn't."
"Do you have any idea who his bride will be?" asked Izuna, having grown annoyed at Enki insistence in goading about the nameless girl whenever he was around. He spoke in such a way that if he were speaking about any woman Izuna knew, whether it be the Ito sisters or Mio, he would feel inclined to cut his tongue out and feed it to him.
"She is from an ancient shinobi clan," she answered. "I don't know more than that."
There were few ancient clans in existence. Uchiha, Senju, Uzumaki, Sarutobi, the remaining Sand Dome clans from the Wind Country, and the Kuronuma clan from Kurata, and while others existed in small numbers, the aforementioned ones were thriving still, which made the frontrunners in Enki's selection. He could think of reasons why any one of those clans would refuse to let one of their own marry into the Motou clan, so he imagined it would be one of the smaller ancient clans. But after what Yayoi finished telling him about her mother, he figured they would be smart in terminating whatever agreement they made.
Yayoi stared at the lime green substance on his skin. "Do you want me to heal you?"
"No, I have already started to heal," he said. It had nothing to do with the fact that she was a terrible, unreliable medic, but that the concoction Shin had given him had taken quick effect and his skin had lost the violent red color it had acquired by the barrier.
"Where did you get that green goo from?"
"A Kuronuma gave it to my brother a long time ago," Izuna lied. "It heals black water burns."
"Ayuka-sama says the Kuronuma clan has the best medical specialists. That might be the best jar of green goo the world has ever seen. For curing burns, at least. They say the old Shugosha can even bring a dead person back to life." At Izuna's expression, she continued. "Sounds incredible, right? But I bet the old man can't bring himself back to life, so what's the point?"
Yayoi continued her rambling for quite some time until Kaname appeared to fetch him for the meeting and Izuna surprised him by bringing the priestess along.
"The king will not respond well to this," Kaname warned.
"I am expecting the reaction," Izuna replied.
Madara gave him the same warning when he met up with them halfway to the inner courtyard where Enki had called the meeting and enlightened him with information that his father had summoned them to the Wind Country.
"I already informed Enki," said Madara.
"Can I go?" asked Yayoi.
"No," Izuna and Madara answered in unison.
"Why not?" she complained.
"The battlefield is a dangerous place for you, princess," said Kaname.
Yayoi rolled her eyes. "I can hold my own."
Everyone looked at her long and hard. She pouted in response, walking on ahead as she called them all names beneath her breath.
Enki was standing with the temple's high priest, Kousei, and Mikami Seiko, all surrounded by other important members of the Motou and Mikami clan. Once they arrived, the conversation seized and Enki stepped forward, the first to square in on Yayoi's presence among them.
"Yayoi, there is a seamstress in your rooms, she is waiting to take your measurements," Enki said passively. "Do not keep her waiting."
"Yayoi is staying here," said Izuna, drawing a glare from the king. "She is princess of this country and she is not the least bit knowledgeable of the politics. She should know what is happening in her own country."
"That is no business of yours," stated Enki. "Yayoi will know what is appropriate for her."
"Yayoi is an idiot," Madara said flatly, "and no good man will want her if she is not at least educated in basic politics."
Yayoi gasped. She turned quickly to Izuna, grabbing him by the arm and squeezing. "Did you hear him call me an idiot?" she hissed, beneath her breath.
Enki went into contemplative silence and inclined his head. "I suppose you might be in the right," he conceded. "Yayoi, you may stand for the meeting, listen closely."
Calling her an idiot worked, but Yayoi spent the entire meeting fulminating and taking turns glaring at either the side of Izuna's head or the back of Madara's. Kaname attempted to calm her, saying neither brother meant to call her names, but as soon as she made a comment about how believable they had sounded, Izuna and Madara admitted they weren't lying.
"If you want to marry into another shinobi clan you have to have more to offer than your looks," Izuna told her, mid-meeting. "You are smart, Yayoi, but if you don't start using your head, you'll have people like your father and Ayuka trampling over you. Nobody will take you seriously. You need to take a stand, too, and you should start by knowing exactly what is happening in your country and its people and thinking about making a difference."
Yayoi, who had been grasping onto his arm, slowly released him. Her entire expression changed and she looked onward and listened.
Everyone was gathered to endure more of Enki's goading over a bride and preparations being made for her arrival in advance. He spoke little of the Sone clan's refugees, apart from informing his shinobi to continue patrolling the smaller villages for what remained of his deceased wife's clan and to penalize whoever aided them. He talked about information he received from Ayuka, who had been traveling in search of Kuronuma Shin, and touched on the subject of the Mikazuki clan before he remembered something of more pressing importance.
"Ah, Uchiha Tajima has ordered his sons out of the country to aid in his war," said Enki. He made a mention of Kikumi celebrating her new marriage and how in the short timeframe, she had established communications with their father to aid him by providing inside information on Hikaku's army. "They will go with their entire armies to meet Uchiha Taiga."
"Taiga is in league with the Kuronuma clan," Madara spoke up.
"Uchiha Taiga will be there as the Motou clan's representative. He will be given an army of shinobi and priestesses to command on the battlefield. Use his aid well if you and your brother plan to survive."
Taiga must have made a deal with Enki through Ayuka, which explained his presence on the island before. He wondered what either Enki or Taiga benefited from working with one another until Izuna remembered his earlier conversation with Kuronuma Shin and reveled in the idea that if any of his actions wronged his ancient clan, Taiga would be killed.
"The Sun Country will be left vulnerable," Seiko acknowledged. "Any of our enemies could breach our defenses and destroy out island nation."
"Mikazuki Gouki will provide us with shinobi in the absence of the Uchiha-Ito alliance," said Enki.
Seiko arched an eyebrow. "Did Ayuka-sama order him into this position?"
Enki nodded and proceeded to end the meeting. The small crowd disbursed.
Madara approached Izuna, leaning forward. "When do you think we will have the time to enter the temple?" he asked. "We need to be the first ones off the island if we want to avoid Taiga."
"We can do it now," Yayoi piped in, surprising them by squeezing in between them. "I just need to find the harlot."
She scanned the area as new crowds began emerging from buildings and locked onto a woman with long chestnut curls in a patterned kimono. "I will be back in a second." She turned to them. "I am going to need one of you to stop me. I tend to get carried away with these things at times."
Without elucidation, Yayoi rushed the woman, tackling her to the ground as the crowd around them dispersed and she started to slap her across the face. Izuna and Madara reacted as soon as they saw Yayoi pull out one of the woman's pins, a long, golden one with a pointed end, and turned it to stab her with it. Izuna grabbed the raven-haired priestess from under the arms as she thrashed and continued calling the woman horrible things. The woman stared at her wide-eyed and crying, holding her reddened cheek as her attendants helped her back onto her feet.
"You are crazed, Yayoi!" she snapped.
Yayoi spat at her. "I hope all of your hair falls out, harlot!" she shouted. "I hope my father smothers you in your sleep, whore!"
Madara made a gesture to Izuna and he half-carried, half-dragged her away as she spewed her curses.
Yayoi broke out of Izuna's grip after they made their way into one of the buildings and brushed her hair back calmly. She stood there as if she had not finished attempting to stab a woman's eye out with her hairpin and fixed her clothes.
She reached into one of her flowing sleeves and held out an old scroll to the brothers. She smiled. "The stupid cow carries it with her everywhere," she said, knowledgably. "My father has a whore for different things."
Izuna took the scroll, stunned. "Yayoi, you are incredible."
She smiled like a fool. "I am, aren't I?"
"I suppose it won't be a problem for you to guide us into the temple then?" Madara said, remaining unfazed by what occurred.
"Not a problem. You will only have to come back to my rooms. I think I have robes that will fit you." Yayoi laughed at their disturbed reactions. "It was a joke. We can probably walk through the entrance during the purification ceremonies. Everyone will be in the hall. The rest of the temple will be empty."
"When does that start?" asked Izuna.
"In an hour, so I'm going to see if there really is a seamstress in my rooms. I want a new dress after all."
Yayoi walked off and disappeared into nearby hallway.
Izuna handed the scroll to Madara. "You keep it. I'm going to find something to eat."
"Wait—"
Izuna ran off before his brother could stop him.
Packing had been an easy feat to complete, but Izuna worried about the upcoming battlefield. He had a strange nagging feeling in his chest, like something wasn't right. It probably wasn't, but he couldn't think of a reason why it wouldn't be. His father had everything under control and he was the sort that knew what he was doing in any and all situations.
A message from the mainland had arrived seconds after Izuna had made it to his lodgings. His father wanted them urgently and Izuna and Madara had no choice but to leave as soon as the ship returned, which would be in under half an hour according to the schedule. He had planned to put a hold on any temple exploration, but Yayoi had insisted it would be their only opportunity as purifying only occurred on special occasions—whenever Mikazuki Gouki or his brothers visited—or once a month and Madara had been determined to sate his curiosity.
Izuna was also curious to meet the source of the island's pulsing energy, but his worry remained—intensified, as if arriving even a moment later might determine the fight, teetering in favor of Hikaku despite the Motou clan's efforts to aid them by placing Kikumi in the Earth Country. However, his brief meeting with Kuronuma Shin came to mind. Mio's grandfather wanted him and his brother to go into the restricted portion of the temple. For what reason? He didn't know, but he wanted to the more thought he put into the idea.
Yayoi waited outside his lodgings. She took him by the arm as soon as he exited and started to lead him outside. He put in a complaint, but it fell to deaf ears and he chose silence for what remained of the trip. His brother was already at the temple with Kaname at his side.
"This is a terrible idea," Kaname said in the usual warning tone.
"Why do you have to be so critical?" complained Yayoi. "Ever thought to consider it might be a well thought out idea, one without flaw that will see you three safely to your boat?"
Yayoi waited expectantly for a positive response to her surprisingly eloquent argument, but the silence was heavy and pensive.
"Kaname is right, this is a terrible idea," Madara decided, "but, it's something we need to know about. If this is the only opportunity we have then we should take advantage of it. We have the time."
Yayoi would have hugged him if she didn't know Madara would shove her off him in the point of contact. She held back and beamed up at him before surveying the open courtyard in front of the temple, empty as expected from the decrease of shinobi on standby. The Motou clan was expected to send half of his army to Taiga to command in the Wind Country and without any Uchiha or Ito on the island its castle population was scarce. The few signs of life present were children from the temple too young to serve running through the inner courtyards which were filled with trees and flowers or the castle's servants, among them Enki's concubines who wore their expensive and luxurious jewels like badges.
"I'm going in," announced Yayoi, walking toward the temple. She tried her best to be discreet, but failed with her obvious actions.
She slinked indoors and remained inside for quite some time until she stuck her head out the door and signaled them in.
As he and Madara started to go, Kaname said, "I'll wait here."
And the brown-haired shinobi was left behind to stand guard as Izuna and Madara followed Yayoi through the illuminated altar, lit by the orange glow of a thousand candles who cast deeper shadows upon the stern faces of the golden faced gods the Motou worshipped. Golden gods that frowned upon them as they passed underneath their still gazes.
Izuna knew little of the layout. Only that the long hallway behind the altar was a one-way trip to the kitchens and a backdoor. Apart from the apartments up the single flight of stairs and Yayoi's cramped accommodations, he saw nothing worth mentioning.
Yayoi guided them through an entrance, sitting hidden from view, underneath the staircase in a little alcove decorated in padded walls emblazed with gold and precious gems. It looked every bit like an expensive sitting room and upon a table made of cherry wood was a tray complete with kettle and mugs. She pushed open the door and stepped into darkness, waiting at the entrance until after Izuna had crossed the threshold to close it noiselessly. He saw her bring her finger to her lips, asking them to be silent, and moved forward.
They continued the walk, coming upon stone walls and a chilling hum of voices. Chanting voices.
Izuna heard them clearly, but could not understand what was being said, when a new sound echoed into the dark corridor-the splashing of water. Over and over again. Like something plunging into water with a great force repeatedly.
Thin lines of light cut through the darkness from the apertures in several doors. Walking past them, Izuna peered in them for a split second each. He saw many priests and priestesses dressed in pale, translucent robes standing around what looked to be a spring of water in the far end of the room decorated in stones and cattails. A woman stood with the bottom half of her body submerged in water before she sank into the pool noiselessly, disappearing beneath its black surface.
It felt like they had traveled for a long time, but at the end of the corridor, they crossed the threshold of another door and from then on, traveled single file down a flight of narrow stairs lit by torches that lined the wall. There the chakra in the air felt heavy and as soon as it invaded their senses, Madara paused to look up at him over his shoulder. Izuna nodded, a natural gesture, and urged his brother forward.
Yayoi tripped off the last step after stepping on the bottom of her robes and hit the opposite wall. Izuna helped her up as Madara pushed forward to the squared room leading into the inner temple. The twin doors were made of smooth stone and covered in illegible talismans.
"You don't suppose they are opened, do you?" asked Izuna, joining his brother.
Madara's eyes had darkened with interest, but he did not act on his curiosity. He shrugged, seemingly indifferent.
"They should be," Yayoi said, tying her skirts up to prevent another fall. "Everyone knows better than to wander down here and there is usually someone guarding the place when it isn't time for the purification ceremonies."
"What are these talismans?" Madara pointed up at the doors.
"Protection charms Ayuka-sama created."
Madara stepped forward and touched the door. "If we open it, she will become aware someone breached her charms."
Izuna walked up beside him, pressing both hands to the entrance's surface. "Then, I should be the one to open it," he said, giving the doors a mighty push.
They were heavy and stubborn, ancient as if they had not been opened in years, but as he strained, he put more strength into his arms until the doors gave a mighty wail—a hollow cry that echoed up the narrow stairs they abandoned behind them. Madara helped him open them further, pushing them apart to create a wider entrance.
Yayoi rushed in with a squeal, disappearing behind a wall that looked like it was part of a cave with a sharp, rocky surface.
"Yayoi!" shouted Madara, running after her.
Izuna could hear their footsteps on the other side when Yayoi's came to a sudden halt and he heard, torn from her throat, a horrified scream. He left the entrance in a rush, running around the wall to a dark path leading into an open-sided walkway made of sedimentary stone, molded by the crashing waves. The walkway was lit by the sky and the air was strong with the scent of the sea.
He spotted Yayoi sitting on her backside, having fallen, with her hands held to her mouth, and his brother, still, and wide-eyed as he looked into the center of the cavernous room. As Izuna turned, he saw the gaping mouth of the cave, the view beyond was a darkening sky covered in mist. It took him a moment to realize that they were in a giant cave with a ceiling he could not see and a fifty-feet drop from the man-made walkways. He saw a tangle of white thread and gauze covered in sealing talismans that wrapped around in a ginormous rock sitting in the middle of the waters flowing into the cave.
Except the rock was decorated in spikes and it moved.
Izuna came to a skidding stop beside his brother, who stared without blinking. Izuna followed his gaze and in the rushing cover of night and crashing waters, he saw a red eye staring back at him. Activating his Sharingan, he could see the chakra running wild within the beast and felt the presence of another upsurge working its way through him, one that created wave after wave that crashed into the surrounding wall as the ground begun to quake.
Yayoi tried to grasp at the wall, but its surface was slippery and she fell to her hands and knees with a sharp cry. Izuna went to her side, taking her by the arm and opted to help her back inside the main temple, but he saw his brother draw his sword.
"Madara!" he shouted. "What are you—?"
Madara jumped off the edge and expertly cut away at the web of talismans keeping the creature imprisoned in the cave. Disappearing, he reappeared on the other side of the cavern just as Izuna and Yayoi made it to the short corridor near the entrance. Everything fell away in pieces, and in acknowledgment of its freedom, the beast emerged from the dark depths of the water, swinging its three mighty tails into Madara's direction.
It pulverized the wall before it dove into the sea, vanishing as chunks of the ceiling began raining down on them.
Izuna called out for his absent brother, seized by fear that the monster might have struck and killed him. He shoved Yayoi towards the door as the walkway began to crumble.
"Go!"
Yayoi hesitated at the entrance.
"Yayoi, now!"
Startled, the priestess ran.
Izuna started to turn, ready to jump into the sea to search for Madara if necessary, when his brother appeared, grabbing him from around the waist and jumping with him to the entrance just as a boulder fell where he once stood. He turned to Madara, tempted to punch him for letting that thing go, but they needed to get back to surface level before the cavern finished collapsing into itself.
Madara let him go at the entrance and Izuna sprang for the staircase.
"What was that?" Izuna snapped.
"It was a tailed beast!" Madara shouted, an edge in his voice. "It was a tailed beast! One of nine!"
Had he not seen the beast raise its three tails, he would not have believed it was, but Izuna had seen it. The beast was a creature of extraordinary power, a being a chakra that Ayuka had captured and been using to bring the island to life, to create the black water. And now, his brother had succeeded in setting it free where it might decide to wreak havoc on the island.
Izuna and Madara found their way out of the turmoil in the temple, evading all the priests and priestesses running amok, and casually met with Kaname, who handed them their traveling bags. But Izuna's heart was still pumping the adrenaline and his thoughts were racing. His encounter with Kuronuma Shin constantly resurfacing from the many questions surrounding Ayuka and Izuna felt that the man had known of the existence of the beast and had wanted them to find it—perhaps release it as well, and Madara had. But it presented a very dangerous question. At one point, Izuna was certain Shin had moved him to find the beast, he had made a mention of a creature, but Izuna had ignored it.
He witnessed the beast pulverize a wall. It turned it to dust—into nothing but particles. Who was Motou Ayuka that she was able to capture a beast of such power? And whom did Kuronuma Shin think he was challenging someone like that?
Izuna and Madara exchanged looks, perhaps in acknowledgment of a universal truth. It might have simply been him, but something happened in that moment. Something changed. Something big.
"The Kuronuma clan will not stand a chance," Izuna grumbled as he climbed onto the ship. The sea was deceptively calm. "Not if Ayuka was able to capture one of those beasts on her own."
Madara stared out into the shimmering waters. "We must retrieve Mio."
That shocked him.
"We must retrieve Mio and keep her from the Motou clan. She must never set foot in the Sun Country or come in contact with Ayuka." Madara curled his hands over the railing of the ship. "She needs to be protected."
xl note: SURPRISE! NEW CHAPTER! SO QUICK! YES!
Actually, the original release date was Monday, but one of my professors forgot to mention she wanted all our assignments due on Tuesday and I fucking slaved all day to get those done that I had to push this chapter off until I finished the classwork. I apologize for the unedited-ness and hope it is not as bad as I think it is (it is, isn't it?), but I wanted this to be out now so that I could hurry with the Mio chapter! (And I was going to edited now, but after spending 10hrs in school...I need to sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
Thank you to everyone that reviewed the previous chapter! It is always such a delight to hear your thoughts and observations!
I am going to be doing the discussion entry for the last part of the "On the Battlefield" chapters and the three "The Slumbering Beast" chapters. So if you have anything you want me to address, please tell me about it. Especially if I told you I would do it because I have not been writing these things down and I forget.
A new "Path in Ways" preview will be posted on my LJ for anyone interested. :) Speaking of LJ, I posted two scenes (that were supposed to go in Redesign, but didn't make the cut) there and you can read them! I posted them under the name "Jigsaw" and this is basically going to be the label to all the things that couldn't make it into the final story but are just as important. Check them out if you have the time or would like!
Thank you for reading!